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sychological  Examinations  of 
College  Students 


BY 


F.  EDITH  CAROTH1 


Submitted  In  partial  fulfillment  of  the  requirements 

for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy^  in  the  Faculty  of 

Philosophy >  Columbia  University 


NEW  YORK 
1922 


EXCHANGE 


Psychological  Examinations  of 
College  Students 


I 

BY 


F.  EDITH  [CAROTHERS 


Submitted  in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  requirements 

for  the  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  in  the  Faculty  of 

Philosophy,  Columbia  University 


NEW  YORK 
1922 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

The  writer  is  indebted  to  Professor  H.  L.  Hollingworth  for  the 
original  plan  of  this  investigation  and  the  opportunity  to  conduct 
the  tests  in  his  laboratory;  for  his  constant  interest  and  his  valuable 
suggestions  in  the  preparation  of  the  results.  For  helpful  criticism 
regarding  the  arrangement  and  statistical  treatment  of  the  data 
she  is  also  indebted  to  Professor  R.  S.  Woodworth,  Professor  A.  T. 
Poffenberger,  and  Professor  J.  McKeen  Cattell. 


\ 


SECTION  I 
HISTORY  OF  FRESHMAN  TESTS 

The  recommendation  in  1882  by  Galton  1  of  the  establishment 
of  anthropometric  and  medico-metric  laboratories  for  the  examina- 
tion of  individuals  represents  the  first  definite  recognition  of  the 
need  of  examining  individuals  in  order  to  give  them  vocational 
guidance.  Galton  saw  the  importance  both  to  science  and  to 
individuals  of  collecting  complete  life-histories  of  people  which 
should  include  photographs,  anthropometric  measurements,  and 
medical  facts.  To  meet  this  need  he  established  his  now  famous 
laboratory  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  London.  There,  by 
payment  of  a  small  fee,  individuals  could  go  and  have  certain 
physical  measurements  made  and  undergo  tests  for  keenness  of 
vision  and  hearing,  dynamometer  pressure,  reaction  time,  etc. 

Several  years  later,  at  the  World's  Columbia  Exposition  in  i893,2 
Professor  Joseph  Jastrow  arranged  a  laboratory  devoted  to  tests 
of  a  strictly  psychological  nature.  Prior  to  Jastrow's  work,  however, 
Cattell  proposed  3  and  tried  out  a  series  of  ten  mental  tests  and 
measurements  on  students  in  the  psychological  laboratory  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania.  In  devising  his  series  of  tests  Cattell 
followed  Galton  in  combining  physical  measurements  with  psy- 
chophysical  and  strictly  mental  tests.  He  went  a  step  farther, 
however,  by  emphasizing  the  necessity  of  standardizing  methods  of 
procedure  in  administering  tests  so  that  results  secured  by  different 
experimenters  might  be  comparable.  In  addition  to  the  Pennsyl- 
vania students,  tests  were  also  given  to  the  students  of  Cambridge 
University  and  Bryn  Mawr  College. 

Gal  ton's  work  stimulated  other  investigators  to  devise  tests  for 
measuring  the  capacities  of  individuals.  Of  particular  interest  is 
the  list  of  ten  fundamental  traits  or  properties  proposed  by  Kraepe- 
lin  4  as  the  basic  factors  to  be  considered  in  examining  both  normal 
individuals  and  the  "mentally  sick."  These  so-called  fundamental 
dispositions  include:  the  mental  capacity  to  do  work,  the  ability  to 

1  Fortnightly  Review,  1882,  p.  332. 

8  Cattell  and  Farrand,  L.  Physical  and  Mental  Measurements  of  the  Students  of  Columbia 
University. 

«  "Mental  Tests  and  Measurements,"  J.  McK.  Cattell  with  appendix  by  Francis  Galton,  Mind, 
1890. 

4Der  Psychologische  Versuch  in  der  Psychiatric;  Emil  Kraepelin,  Psychologische  Arbeiten, 
1895. 


2  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

be  influenced  by  practice,  strength  of  practice  or  general  memory, 
special  memory  ability,  susceptibility,  fatigability,  the  ability  to 
recuperate,  the  depth  of  sleep,  the  intensity  of  distraction  and 
adaptability.  To  each  one  of  these  fundamental  traits  Kraepelin 
arbitrarily  assigned  a  certain  test,  assuming  that  excellence  of 
performance  in  the  assigned  test,  say  adding,  would  indicate  excel- 
lence in  the  corresponding  quality,  say  the  capacity  to  do  work. 
Although  his  assumption,  without  statistical  proof,  that  certain 
tests  would  measure  certain  functions  rendered  his  results  inac- 
curate, from  the  modern  standpoint,  his  work  is  interesting  in  that 
it  is  representative  of  a  distinct  stage  in  the  use  of  tests  for  diag- 
nostic purposes. 

With  the  accumulation  of  data  and  the  gradually  increasing 
clearness  of  conception  of  the  meaning  of  tests,  methods  of  admin- 
istering them  were  revised.  In  i8965  appeared  the  first  report  of 
the  results  of  mental  and  physical  tests  made  on  freshmen  only. 
It  concerned  the  work  done  by  Professor  Cattell  and  Dr.  Farrand 
on  one  hundred  Columbia  University  students  in  1894-5  and  1895-6. 
At  this  time  there  was  conceived  the  plan  of  testing  Columbia 
students  during  their  freshman  and  senior  years.  Their  tests 
comprised  ten  records  and  twenty-six  measurements.  Such  physical 
measurements  were  taken  as  the  color  of  hair  and  eyes,  height  and 
weight,  breathing  capacity,  sensation  areas,  and  strength  of  right 
and  left  hands.  Other  measures  were  of  a  sensory  character,  while 
certain  simple  tests  of  a  mental  character  were  taken,  such  as  the 
rate  of  perception  and  the  perception  of  space  and  time.  In  addi- 
tion, a  personal  record-blank  was  filled  out  by  the  student  and  a 
record  of  the  impressions  made  upon  him  by  the  subject  was  filled 
in  by  the  experimenter  both  before  and  after  testing.  The  tests 
were  given  individually,  the  investigators  and  several  assistants 
acting  as  experimenters,  and  required  from  forty  minutes  to  one 
hour  for  their  completion.  The  underlying  purpose  in  giving  these 
tests  is  clearly  stated  in  this  statement  by  Cattell  and  Farrand: 6 

"When  used  with  freshmen  on  entering  college  the  record  is  of  interest  to  the 
man  and  may  be  of  real  value  to  him.  It  is  well  for  him  to  know  how  his  physical 
development,  his  senses,  his  movements,  and  his  mental  processes  compare  with 
those  of  his  fellows.  He  may  be  able  to  correct  defects  and  develop  aptitudes. 
Then  when  the  tests  are  repeated  later  in  the  college  course  and  in  subsequent 
life  the  record  of  progress  or  regression  may  prove  of  substantial  importance  to 
the  individual." 

5  Cattell,  J.  McK.,  and  Farrand,  L.    Physical  and  Mental  Measurements  of  the  Students  of 
Columbia  University,  Psychological  Review,  1806,  III,  618-647. 

6  Above  reference. 


History  of  Freshman  Tests  3 

These  Columbia  freshman  tests  continued  to  be  given  each  year 
under  Professor  Cattell's  direction.  In  1901  7  an  account  and 
discussion  of  the  results  was  published  by  Wissler.  He  discusses  the 
changes  and  additions  made  in  the  tests  and  considers  the  records 
of  250  freshmen,  a  small  number  of  seniors,  and  some  Barnard  girls. 
The  tests  employed  were:  length  and  breadth  of  head,  strength  of 
hands,  fatigue,  eyesight,  color-vision,  hearing,  perception  of  pitch, 
perception  of  weight,  sensation  areas,  sensitiveness  to  pain,  per- 
ception of  size,  color  preference,  reaction  time,  rate  of  percep- 
tion, naming  colors,  rate  of  movement,  accuracy  of  movement, 
perception  of  time,  association,  imagery,  memory,  (auditory,  visual, 
logical,  and  retrospective).  Records  of  stature,  weight,  etc.,  to- 
gether with  data  concerning  parentage,  personal  habits,  and  health, 
the  physical  measurements  taken  in  the  gymnasium,  and  academic 
marks  were  also  secured.  From  the  similarity  of  the  results  of 
freshmen  tested  each  year,  Wissler  concluded  that  freshmen  enter- 
ing Columbia  from  year  to  year  are  a  homogeneous  group  and 
represent  a  type.  His  general  conclusions  are: 

1.  That  the  laboratory  mental  tests  show  little  intercorrelation 
in  the  case  of  college  students.    Correlations  range  from    —  .28 
(accuracy  and  speed  in  marking  out  A's),  to  +.39  (auditory  and 
visual  memory — correctly  placed). 

2.  That  the  physical  tests  show  a  general  tendency  to  correlate 
among  themselves,  but  only  to  a  very  slight  degree  with  the  mental 
tests. 

3.  That  the  markings  of  students  in  college  classes  correlate  with 
themselves  to  a  considerable  degree.    Correlations  run  from  +.11, 
(mathematics  and  logical  memory)  to  +-75  (Latin  and  Greek). 

These  early  Columbia  tests  and  measurements  were  principally 
motor  and  sensory  in  character,  and  the  few  tests  that  might  be 
considered  to  have  an  intellectual  quality  were  so  simple  that  they 
proved  of  little  value  for  determining  the  mental  status  of  the  college 
freshman.  They  are,  however,  significant  in  that  they  represent  the 
first  definite  attempt  to  establish  standards  of  performance  for 
freshmen  and  to  show  students  how  their  standing  in  various  tests 
compared  with  the  average  standing  of  their  class. 

Subsequent  to  the  establishment  of  the  practice  of  testing  the 
Columbia  students  in  their  freshman  and  senior  years,  committees 
were  appointed  by  the  American  Psychological  Association  in  1896 

7  Wissler,  Clark;  The  Correlation  of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests;  Psychological  Review.  Mono- 
graph Suppl.,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  1901,  p.  62. 


4  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

and  1907,  respectively,  to  consider  the  possibility  of  accumulating 
mental  and  physical  statistics  through  cooperation  on  the  part  of 
various  psychological  laboratories  and  to  devise  a  standard  series 
of  group  and  individual  tests.  In  1896  the  committee  drew  up  a 
series  of  physical  and  mental  tests  appropriate  for  college  students 
tested  in  a  psychological  laboratory. 

Various  other  proposals  were  made  for  the  scientific  study  of  the 
college  student.  In  1899  President  Harper  of  Chicago  recommended 
that  special  study  be  made  of  the  college  student's  character,  intel- 
lectual capacity,  and  tastes,  by  the  questionnaire  method.  In  1906 
Thorndike  8  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  entrance  examina- 
tions given  by  the  College  Entrance  Board  of  the  Association  of 
Colleges  and  Preparatory  Schools  of  the  Middle  States  and  Mary- 
land did  not  measure  at  all  accurately  the  candidate's  capacity 
and  emphasized  the  need  of  the  scientific  study  of  this  matter. 
Williams 9  also  stressed  the  importance  of  studying  the  college 
student.  Like  President  Harper,  he  recommended  the  questionnaire 
method  for  ascertaining  facts  concerning  the  student's  personality, 
and  suggested  the  use  of  Whipple's  information  test  for  obtaining 
a  knowledge  of  the  student's  range  of  information.  He  also  pointed 
out  the  need  of  vocational  advisors  for  freshmen. 

Calfee  10  in  1913  reported  the  results  of  four  general  intelligence 
tests  on  103  freshmen  (51  boys  and  52  girls)  of  the  University  of 
Texas.  The  tests  used  were  card-dealing,  card-sorting,  alphabet- 
sorting,  the  mirror  test,  and  the  spirometer  test  for  vital  capacity. 
She  finds  inter-test  correlations  for  the  boys  and  girls  combined 
ranging  all  the  way  from  +.50  to  .00.  The  correlations  between 
the  tests  and  college  grades  range  from  +.32  (card  sorting  and 
grades)  to  +.16  (mirror  test  and  grades).  The  correlation  between 
the  lung  test  and  grades  is  —.11.  Considering  the  girls'  records 
alone,  the  inter-test  correlations  range  from  +.45  to  +.19,  and 
the  correlations  with  college  grades  from  +.28  to  +.13,  and  with 
the  lung  test  the  correlation  is  .00. 

No  further  attempt  to  measure  the  performance  of  college  fresh- 
men in  tests  is  reported  until  December,  1915,  when  Dr.  Karl  T. 
Waugh  presented  a  paper  on  "A  New  Mental  Diagnosis  of  the 
College  Student"  before  the  American  Psychological  Associa- 

•  Thorndike,  E.  L.  An  Empirical  Study  of  College  Entrance  Examinations.  Science,  N.S., 
1906,  23,  839-845- 

» Williams,  C.  W.  Scientific  Study  of  the  College  Student. 

«  Calfee,  M.  College  Freshmen  and  Four  General  Intelligence  Tests,  Journ.  of  Educ.  Psychol., 
1913,  4,  223-231. 


History  of  Freshman  Tests  5 

tion.11  In  1912  he  applied  seven  tests  12  individually  to  freshmen  in 
Beloit  College,  and  three  years  later,  in  1915,  he  gave  the  same 
tests  to  thirty-nine  of  the  same  subjects.  Waugh's  inter-test  cor- 
relations range  from  —.43  to  +.54,  and  he  finds  some  improve- 
ment in  the  tests  from  freshman  to  senior  year. 

During  the  year  1913-14  Bingham  18  gave  nine  tests  to  200  Dart- 
mouth freshmen,  seven  of  them  being  given  individually.  As  a 
number  of  psychology  students,  unpracticed  experimenters,  assisted 
Professor  Bingham  in  his  testing,  the  results  of  his  investigation  are 
somewhat  inaccurate.  He  gives  norms  for  the  nine  tests,  (median, 
standard  deviation  and  coefficient  of  variability)  and  the  range 
from  the  poorest  to  the  best.  As  no  correlations  are  reported  we 
have  no  information  as  to  the  relationships  between  the  tests. 
Bingham's  chief  contribution  consists  in  his  use  of  the  method  of 
ogive  percentile  graphs.  The  data  in  seven  of  his  tests  are  presented 
in  this  form,  thus  serving  as  a  scale.  Given  the  score  made  by  any 
individual,  the  experimenter  by  reference  to  the  chart  can  readily 
assign  him  a  rank  among  his  classmates.  The  speed  with  which  a 
student  may  be  thus  assigned  his  relative  position  in  any  given 
trait  makes  this  method  a  most  convenient  one  for  the  instructor.14 

At  the  University  of  Texas  the  same  year  Bell 15  gave  nine  tests  w 
to  about  seven  hundred  and  fifty  freshmen.  Bell  definitely  states 
that  his  aim  was  to  devise  a  series  of  tests  that  would  "be  of  assis- 
tance to  college  authorities  in  aiding  freshmen  to  adjust  themselves 
to  their  environment."  The  time  required  for  testing  was  from 
forty  to  forty-five  minutes.  The  tests  were  given  not  individually, 
but  in  groups  averaging  a  little  less  than  twenty  each.  The  time- 
limit  method  was  used.  This,  together  with  his  arbitrary  method 
of  scoring  the  tests  may  account  in  some  measure  for  the  unsatis- 
factory nature  of  his  results.  He  weighted  each  test  so  that  a  perfect 

11  Waugh,  Dr.  Karl  T.    A  new  Mental  Diagnosis  of  the  College  Student.    New  York  Times 
Magazine,  January  2,  1916. 

12  Waugh's  tests  were:    I.  Concentration  of  attention  (cancellation  of  A's);  2.  Range  of  infor- 
mation; 3.  Speed  of  learning  (substitution);  4.  Quickness  of  association  (opposites);  5.  Ingenuity 
(puzzle-box);  6.  Steadiness;  7-  Memory  for  a  passage  (immediately  after  hearing  it  read  and  after 
an  interval  of  two  weeks). 

"Bingham,  W.  V.  Some  norms  of  Dartmouth  Freshmen;  Journ.  of  Educ.  Psychol.,  March, 
1916,  Vol.  7,  PP.  129-142. 

14  Bingham's  tests  were:  i.  Endurance  of  grip;  2.  Tapping;  3.  Memory  span  for  auditory 
digits;  4.  Logical  memory;  5.  Cancellation;  6.  Color  Naming;  7.  Logical  relations;  8.  Mixed 
relations;  9.  Perception  of  form. 

»  Bell,  J.  Carleton.  Mental  Tests  and  College  Freshmen;  Journ.  of  Educ.  Psychol.,  Sept.,  1916. 
Vol.  7,  pp.  381-399. 

16  Bell's  Tests  include:  i.  Cancellation  of  triangles;  2.  Addition;  3.  Association  or  learning 
pairs;  4.  Recognizing  forms;  s-  Marking  right  statements;  6.  Easy  directions;  7.  Hard  Directions; 
8.  Alternatives;  9.  Completion  (using  "The  Strength  of  the  Eagle"  as  material). 


6  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

mark  or  the  highest  mark  would  approximate  100,  and  the  other 
marks  range  downward  from  this  to  zero.  For  example,  in  the 
Triangles  test  there  were  fifty  triangles  to  be  crossed  out.  Each 
one  correctly  crossed  out  counted  two  points  and  five  points  were 
deducted  for  each  error,  positive  or  negative.  For  example,  if  a 
student  crossed  out  35  triangles,  omitted  3,  and  crossed  out  one 
circle,  his  score  was  70  minus  20  =  50.  The  other  tests  were  scored 
in  similar  manner. 

Bell  also  obtained  the  correlations  of  freshmen  university  grades 
with  each  other  and  of  the  university  grades  with  the  mental  tests. 
His  conclusions  are : 

1.  The  correlations  between  freshmen  university  grades  vary 
from  +  -34    (mathematics — history)    to  +  .59    (English — history, 
science — history) . 

2.  The  highest  correlation  between  class  marks  and  test  scores 
is  +  .31  (English — Completion). 

3.  Among  the  tests  themselves  the  highest  correlations  are  found 
between  the  Association  and  Recognition  tests,  and  between  the 
Directions,  Alternatives  and  Completion  tests. 

4.  There  is  a  considerable  difference  in  the  results  of  the  tests 
with  the  best  and  the  poorest  students,  but  the  scores  are  so  variable 
as  to  be  of  little  value  for  individual  diagnosis. 

The  investigations  of  Calfee,  Waugh,  Bingham,  and  Bell  illustrate 
the  striking  change  that  has  taken  place  in  the  character  of  mental 
tests  since  the  early  Columbia  tests  were  first  instituted.  In  place 
of  sensory  and  motor  tests  we  now  employ  tests  which  will  measure 
diverse  mental  functions.  Motivated  by  this  same  desire  to  secure 
a  group  of  tests  for  college  students  indicative  of  mental  ability, 
and  correlative  with  college  grades,  Rowland  and  Lowden  17  began 
to  try  out  groupings  of  psychological  tests  in  1912-13  and  carried 
out  their  investigations  over  a  period  of  three  years.  The  tests 
were  conducted  individually  on  all  the  students  in  Reed  College, 
twelve  students  of  experimental  psychology  assisting  in  conducting 
the  tests.  The  first  grouping  of  tests  was  tried  out  on  54  students 
during  1912-13,  after  which  the  grouping  was  revised  and  given  to 
195  more  subjects.  No  inter-test  correlations  are  reported.  The 
highest  correlation  between  university  grades  and  the  groupings 
was  between  the  grades  and  the  letter-group  g-r-s-t.,  cancellation, 
opposites,  logical  memory,  judgment  (syllogism),  rote  memory, 

17  Rowland,  E.  and  Lowden,  G.  Report  of  Psychological  Tests  at  Reed  College.  Journ.  of 
Exper.  Psychol.,  1916,  I,  211-217. 


History  of  Freshman  Tests  7 

cancellation  of  words  with  a  and  /,  (a  correlation  of  +  .37  with  a 
P.E.  of  ±  .06). 

Psychological  tests  have  also  been  conducted  for  several  years  at 
Vassar  College.  Results  of  tests  made  upon  Vassar  freshmen  during 
the  years  I9I4,18  1915,  and  1916  19  show  data  collected  from  four 
sources,  namely:  I.  Answers  to  a  questionnaire  calling  for  infor- 
mation regarding  the  student's  imagery,  interests,  language  facility, 
and  habits;  2.  Results  of  the  tests;20  3.  Freshmen  academic  grades ; 
4.  Reports  of  promising  students  by  their  instructors.  To  deter- 
mine roughly  the  correlation  between  academic  marks  and  test 
scores,  the  difference  between  the  average  class  standing  of  students 
having  test  scores  in  the  first  or  highest  quarter  and  the  average 
class  standing  of  students  with  test  scores  in  the  last  quarter  was 
found.  If  there  was  a  marked  difference  the  experimenters  con- 
cluded that  a  positive  correlation  existed.  According  to  this  rough 
method  they  found  a  positive  correlation  between  academic  marks 
and  the  tests  except  Hard  Directions.  On  the  whole,  the  results  of 
the  Vassar  tests  appeared  to  indicate  that  ability  in  the  tests 
correlates  well  with  ability  in  freshman  studies,  while  inability  to 
do  well  in  the  tests  is  correlated  with  a  similar  inability  to  do  well 
in  freshman  studies.  Moreover,  students  designated  as  "promising" 
by  their  instructors  tend  to  manifest  a  high  grade  of  performance 
in  the  tests.  (14.5%  of  317  freshmen  tested  in  1917  who  passed 
all  the  tests  in  the  Terman  Superior  Adult  Tests  were  rated  by  their 
instructors  as  being  of  only  average  ability.)  The  experimenters 
also  found  that  the  relation  between  success  in  freshman  tests  and 
academic  success  in  three  years'  work  is  less  than  that  between 
success  in  freshman  tests  and  academic  success  in  the  freshman 
year.  Inasmuch  as  there  were  thirty  different  testers,  each  one 
being  assigned  a  small  group  of  freshmen,  little  confidence  may  be 
placed  in  the  accuracy  of  the  data.  The  tests  as  conducted  at 
Vassar  are  of  value  more  for  the  opportunity  they  afford  students 
of  psychology  to  acquire  training  in  experimental  methods  of  pro- 
cedure than  for  any  contribution  they  make  to  our  knowledge  of 
freshman  standards  of  performance  in  various  tests. 

"White,  Sophie  D.;  May,  Sybil;  and  Washburn,  M.  F.  A  study  of  Freshmen.  Minor  Studies 
from  the  Psychological  Laboratory  of  Vassar  College,  No.  31,  Amer.  Jour,  of  Psychol.,  1917,  Vol. 
28,  pp.  151-154. 

"Montagne,  M.;  Reynolds,  M.  M.;  and  Washburn,  M.  F.  A  Further  Study  of  Freshmen  . 
Amer.  Jour,  of  Psychol.,  1918,  29,  327-330. 

20  The  tests  described  include:  Verbal  memory  and  memory  for  ideas;  Reading  Backwards; 
Hard  Directions;  Analogies;  Sentence  Building;  Suggestibility;  Free  Association;  Thurstone 
Reasoning. 


8  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

An  interesting  contribution  in  connection  with  the  application  of 
psychological  tests  to  college  freshmen  is  that  of  Kitson 21  at  the 
University  of  Chicago.  With  the  general  purpose  of  devising  a 
"system  for  measuring  the  mental  capacity  of  college  students  in 
order  to  guide  their  college  work,"  Kitson  selected  sixteen  tests.22 
About  half  the  tests  were  given  by  the  group  method.  The  time 
required  for  testing  was  two  and  one  half  hours.  From  forty  com- 
plete records  Kitson  computed  norms  of  performance  in  the  various 
tests.  In  addition,  a  graphic  chart  was  arranged  for  each  student 
to  show  his  standing  in  each  test  and  to  furnish  a  net  score  com- 
bining his  standing  in  all  the  tests.  In  the  particular  tests  used, 
Kitson  found  a  significant  positive  correlation  only  between: 

1.  Memory   for   meaningful   material    seen    and    heard    (+.54); 

2.  Between  the  first  and  second  reproductions  of  this  material 
(+  .49);  3.  Between  the  Opposites  and  Constant  Increment  tests 
(-f  .40).    When  correlations  were  computed  of  standings  in  each 
test  with  standings  in  the  net  score,  they  were  found  to  be  some- 
what higher.  The  correlation  between  college  marks  and  psychologi- 
cal tests  was  found  to  be  +  .44  (P.E.  .09)  but  from  forty  records 
secured  from  a  second  group  of  freshmen  tested  the  correlation  was 
found  to  be  only  +  .20  (P.E.  .11).  Kitson  explains  this  low  correla- 
tion on  the  ground  that  many  other  factors  besides  intelligence  enter 
in  to  determine  standing  in  school  studies,  such  as  the  personal 
factor  of  the  instructor,  the  student's  will  power,  social  surroundings, 
economic    conditions,    and    physical    condition.     The    correlation 
between  the  psychological  tests  and  intelligence  as  estimated  by 
the  dean  was  -f-  .57  (P.E.  .05).   Twenty-one  of  the  1915  freshmen 
were  retested  in  seven  of  the  tests  in  their  Sophomore  year  and 
improvement  was  shown  in  every  test  except  one.  (Numbers  heard.) 
Comparison  between  the  net  score  for  freshman  and  sophomore 
year  shows  a  correlation  of   +  .88  (P.E.  .03). 

Although  his  norms  of  performance  in  the  tests  and  his  inter- 
test  correlations  are  not  very  reliable,  based  as  they  are  upon  only 
forty  records,  there  is  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  Kitson's  general 
method  of  procedure.  His  emphasis  upon  the  importance  of  study- 
ing the  individual  student  in  his  relation  to  the  college  and  his 

a  Kitson,  H.  D.  The  Scientific  Study  of  the  College  Student.  Psychol.  Monog.,  1917,  23  (No.  98), 
p.  8x. 

«  The  tests  employed  were:  Number-checking;  Memory  for  numbers  heard;  Memory  for  objects 
seen;  Memory  for  logical  material  heard;  Secondary  memory  for  same;  Immediate  memory  for 
logical  material,  seen;  Secondary  memory  for  same;  Loss  in  logical  material,  heard;  Loss  in  logical 
material,  seen;  Opposites;  Constant  increment;  Hard  directions,  printed  and  oral;  Word  build- 
ing; Sentence-building;  and  Business  ingenuity. 


History  of  Freshman  Tests  9 

realization  of  the  fact  that  psychological  measurements,  however 
large  the  role  they  may  play  in  determining  a  student's  abilities 
and  aptitudes,  must  not  be  considered  the  sole  factor  in  such  a 
determination,  but  rather  should  be  so  coordinated  with  measures 
of  the  student  from  various  other  aspects  as  to  lead  to  our  fuller 
understanding  of  the  nature  of  the  individual  student  and  his 
potentialities,  signify  a  decided  advance  in  the  method  of  treating 
the  problem.  The  splendid  cooperation  of  all  the  students  and 
his  success  in  dealing  with  delinquent  cases  speak  much  for  Kitson's 
general  method. 

Other  minor  investigations  have  been  made  on  freshmen  with  the 
same  purpose.  Sunne,23  working  at  Newcomb  College,  found  a 
low  correlation  between  college  grades  and  an  information  test 
tried  on  twenty- five  freshmen,  and  with  ninety-nine  freshmen  who 
were  given  a  series  of  tests  found  correlations  of  tests  with  grades 
ranging  from  o  to  +  .25.  Haggerty 24  found  a  correlation  of  a 
quality  of  reading  test  and  omnibus  test  with  medical  marks  of 
+  .62  and  +  .60,  respectively,  and  of  the  two  combined  of  -f-  .65, 
in  the  case  of  sixty-nine  candidates  for  medical  school  who  had 
already  completed  two  years  of  college. 

At  the  University  of  Iowa  King,28  working  with  a  little  group  of 
nineteen  freshmen,  found  a  tendency  for  the  students  with  high 
academic  marks  to  make  higher  scores  in  the  completion,  logical 
memory,  and  lanes  test  than  the  students  with  low  academic  marks. 
He  gives  no  statistical  evidence  in  support  of  this  statement.  Later, 
using  a  series  of  five  tests  with  56  freshman  engineers,  he  obtained 
a  correlation  between  students'  ranks  in  all  the  tests  combined  and 
their  academic  grades  of  -f  .27.  The  tests  employed  by  King  were: 

1.  Courtis  Arithmetic,  Series  B,  (graded  for  speed  and  accuracy); 

2.  Hard  Opposites;  3.  Recognition  of  Forms;  4.  The  Kansas  Silent 
Reading  Test,  (H.S.  Series);  and  5.  "Hall  Cube  Test,"  a  test  of 
visual  imagination. 

A  little  later  Irving  King  and  James  M'Crory  26  followed  Kitson's 
method  more  definitely.  In  the  fall  of  1916  they  tested  276  women 
and  268  men  freshmen  in  seven  different  tests:  the  Courtis  Standard 

»  Sunne,  D.  The  Relation  of  Class  Standing  to  College  Tests,  Journ.  of  Educ.  Psychol.,  1917, 
8,  193-211. 

*4  Haggerty,  M.  E.  Tests  of  Applicants  for  Admission  to  University  of  Minnesota  Medical 
School.  Journ.  of  Educ.  Psychol.,  1918,  9,  278-286. 

»  King,  I.  The  relationship  of  abilities  in  certain  mental  tests  to  ability  as  estimated  by  teachers, 
School  &  Society,  1917,  5,  204-209. 

»  King,  I.  and  M'Crory,  J.  Freshman  Tests  at  the  University  of  Iowa,  Journ.  of  Educ.  Psychol., 
1918,  9,  32-46. 


io  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

Arithmetic  Test,  Series  B;  mixed  relations;  two  tests  of  "opposites;" 
a  completion  test  used  by  Simpson;  visualization;  Whipple's  infor- 
mation test,  and  a  logical  memory  test.  The  group  method  of  test- 
ing was  used,  the  tests  being  given  in  groups  of  from  ten  to  twenty- 
five.  Their  rather  low  inter-test  correlations  indicate,  they  state, 
that  they  are  measuring  a  variety  of  mental  functions.  They  find, 
moreover,  fairly  good  correlations  between  the  tests  and  academic 
grades  (+  .14  to  -f  .45  in  the  case  of  the  girls,  and  -f  .21  to  +  .84 
in  the  case  of  the  boys).  In  their  attempt  to  make  practical  applica- 
tion of  the  tests  for  the  diagnosis  of  their  students  in  general  and 
cases  of  special  ability  and  disability,  as  Kitson  does,  they  have 
been  fairly  successful. 

At  Northwestern  University  Uhl 27  obtained  inter-test  correla- 
tions ranging  from  -f  .18  (Trabue  Completion  K  and  Information), 
to  -|~  .42  (Trabue  Completion  M  and  Information),  for  a  group  of 
one  hundred  freshmen  tested  in  the  fall  of  1916.  His  series  contained 
only  four  tests:  Trabue  Completion  K  and  M,  a  hard  opposites  list 
of  iwenty  words,  and  an  information  test  which  consisted  of  the 
seventy  most  familiar  words  in  Whipple's  list  plus  thirty  new  words. 
Test  correlations  with  the  first  semester  English  and  Mathematics 
grades  were  determined  and  found  to  range  from  -f-  .48  (English  and 
Mathematics),  to  +  .16  (Completion  K  and  Mathematics).  When 
he  had  three  mathematics  instructors  rate  these  one  hundred  stu- 
dents for  ability,  Uhl  found  a  correlation  of  -f  .93  between  their 
ratings  and  the  Mathematics  grades  of  the  students.  This  high 
correlation  was  no  doubt  due  to  the  tendency  on  the  part  of  the 
teachers  to  make  their  judgments  of  the  students  practically  equiva- 
lent to  the  students'  course  grades.  The  correlation  between  the 
instructor's  judgments  and  the  ranks  of  these  same  students  in  their 
last  year  of  high  school  was  +  .59,  and  with  all  the  tests  combined 
was  +  .36.  Uhl  thinks  his  tests  fail  to  measure  accurately,  the 
information  test  being  the  most  unsatisfactory,  and  attributes  his 
low  correlations  to  the  homogeneity  of  his  group,  the  relative  sim- 
plicity of  the  tests,  and  the  unreliability  of  school  marks. 

Thurstone's 28  work  represents  a  further  development  in  the  use 
of  psychological  tests.  At  the  Carnegie  Institute  of  Technology  the 
attempt  is  made  to  use  psychological  tests  as  a  criterion  for  admis- 
sion. A  series  of  six  mental  tests  was  given  to  114  freshmen  of  the 
Margaret  Morrison  Carnegie  School  in  October,  1917.  The  problem 

»  Uhl,  W.  L.   Mentality  Tests  for  College  Freshmen,  Journ.  of  Educ.  PsycholM  I9i9,  io,  13-28 
28  Thurstone,  L.  L.   Journ  of  Educ.  Psychol.,  March,  1919. 


History  of  Freshman  Tests  1 1 

was  to  determine  whether  they  could  reduce  the  number  of  students 
who  were  dropped  for  poor  scholarship  or  placed  on  probation  for 
poor  scholarship  by  the  use  of  the  mental  tests,  and  to  determine 
whether  the  mental  test  ratings  correlated  with  faculty  estimates 
concerning  the  general  ability  of  the  students.  The  tests  which 
agreed  well  with  the  judgment  of  the  faculty  were  retained.  In 
working  up  his  results  Thurstone  used  the  method  of  critical  scores. 
After  plotting  scatter  diagrams  for  each  test,  upper  and  lower  critical 
scores  were  determined  such  that  every  student  above  the  upper 
critical  score  is  above  the  average  in  the  opinion  of  the  faculty, 
and  every  student  below  the  lower  critical  score  is  below  the  average 
in  the  opinion  of  the  faculty.  The  mental  test  rating  was  designated 
as  the  medium  percentile  rank  in  all  six  tests  plus  5  points  for  each 
test  in  which  the  student  is  above  the  upper  critical  score,  and 
minus  5  points  for  each  test  in  which  he  is  below  the  lower  critical 
score.  Students  with  a  mental  test  rating  of  —  10  or  below  were 
reported  as  doubtful. 

Thurstone  found  a  correlation  between  instructors'  estimates  of 
students'  ability  and  the  combined  mental  test  rating  of  +  .60. 
From  his  results  he  concluded  that:  I.  The  mental  test  rating 
would  have  eliminated  seven  of  the  eleven  total  failures  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year.  2.  No  average  or  good  student  would  have 
been  eliminated  by  the  mental  test  rating.  All  students  who  scored 
below  the  lower  critical  mental  test  rating  were,  without  exception, 
poor  students. 

Moreover,  all  the  freshmen  who  were  rated  high  by  the  faculty 
were  above  the  average  in  the  mental  test  rating.  From  all  indica- 
tions, this  method  is  working  out  well  at  Carnegie. 

The  past  three  years  have  brought  a  further  development  in  the 
use  of  psychological  tests  for  measuring  the  intelligence  of  college 
freshmen.  Since  1918  the  Army  Alpha  test  has  been  administered 
to  freshmen  in  several  colleges  with  varying  degrees  of  success. 
Professor  Stone29  reports  that  its  use  at  Dartmouth  justifies  the 
recent  proposal  to  admit  students  scholastically  in  the  upper  quarter 
of  their  class  in  approved  schools.  Strictly  speaking,  the  work  at 
Dartmouth  should  not  be  included  in  this  history,  since  it  deals 
with  the  results  obtained  in  testing  all  the  college  classes  rather 
than  freshmen  only.  We  mention  it  here,  however,  because  the 
college  authorities  are  now  devoting  particular  attention  to  admin- 

«  Stone,  Charles  Leonard.   "Intelligence  and  Scholarship;"  The  Dartmouth  Alumni  Magazine 
March,  1920. 


12  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

istering  the  test  to  the  freshman  class.  During  the  fall  of  1918  the 
Army  Alpha  test  was  given  to  all  the  students  in  the  Students  Army 
Training  Corps  which  included  practically  the  entire  student  body. 
The  average  score  in  Alpha  for  the  677  S.  A.  T.  C.  men  tested  was 
147.5.  The  average  academic  grade  for  the  same  men  was  2.12, 
using  the  scale  D  =  i,  C  =  2,  6=3,  A  =  4.  The  correlation 
between  the  academic  marks  and  Alpha  scores  was  +  .44.  There  is 
also  a  significant  correspondence  between  a  student's  score  in  the 
Alpha  test  and  the  scholarship  quintile  his  academic  record  places 
him  in.  Although  less  exact  than  Thurstone's  method  of  assigning 
individuals  their  relative  position  in  a  group,  this  method  serves  to 
give  a  rough  and  quick  estimate  of  a  student's  status. 

Similar  to  this  Dartmouth  study  is  that  of  Walcott's 30  at  Hamline 
University.  Here,  too,  not  freshmen  alone,  but  all  students  were 
given  the  Alpha  test  in  the  fall  of  1918.  Walcott's  results  are  based 
on  data  secured  from  61  men  and  145  women.  As  in  the  Dartmouth 
investigation,  a  far  greater  proportion  of  men  and  women  students 
secure  a  score  in  Alpha  in  the  high  grade  intelligence  group  than 
was  found  in  any  of  the  army  camps.  The  median  score  is  129  for 
the  Hamline  men  and  133  for  the  women,  with  the  same  sharp 
differentiation  between  the  poor  and  the  good  groups  as  Stone  found 
at  Dartmouth.  The  correlation  between  the  results  of  the  Alpha 
test  for  the  women  and  their  first  term  academic  grades  was  -f-  47, 
slightly  higher  than  the  Dartmouth  result.  Although  Walcott  does 
not  consider  the  army  test  the  best  device  for  determining  the  fitness 
of  students  for  college  work,  he  sees  in  the  significant  difference  in 
score  between  the  upper  and  lower  half  of  the  students  tested,  the 
practical  use  to  be  made  of  this  fact  in  the  placing  of  students. 

Similar  investigations  have  also  been  conducted  by  Hill,  Filler,31 
and  Hunter  at  the  University  of  Illinois,  Dickinson  College,  and 
Southern  Methodist  University,  respectively.  At  the  University 
of  Illinois  3,500  students  were  tested  in  twenty-four  groups  in 
March,  I9I9,32  members  of  the  faculty  acting  as  experimenters. 
As  at  Dartmouth  and  Hamline,  the  scores  of  the  students  at  each 
of  these  colleges  show  them  to  be  a  very  select  group  compared  to 
the  army  men.  The  median  score  of  the  freshmen  in  the  school  of 
liberal  arts  and  sciences  at  the  University  of  Illinois  is  147.  At 

»o  Walcott,  G.  D.  "Mental  Testing  at  Hamline  University."  School  and  Society,  1919,  ro,  S7-6o. 
M  Filler,  M.  G.  A  Psychological  Test.   School  &  Society,  1919,  10,  208-209. 
«Hill,  D.  S.   Results  of  Intelligence  Tests  at  the  University  of  Illinois;  School  &  Society,  1919, 
9,  542-545- 


History  of  Freshman  Tests  13 

Southern  Methodist  University88  the  effort  was  made  to  secure 
select  groups  of  students  in  order  to  compare  their  scores  with  the 
average  score  for  the  school.  Each  student  was  asked  to  name  men 
and  women  students  whom  they  thought  would  make  high  scores 
in  the  Alpha  test.  For  16  men  and  8  women  named  by  from  five  to 
forty  students  as  being  able  to  make  the  highest  scores,  the  average 
score  for  the  men  was  154,  and  for  the  women  156,  justifying  the 
judgment  of  the  students.  With  a  similar  group  of  students  named 
by  the  faculty  as  being  able  to  make  the  highest  scores  even  better 
results  were  obtained,  the  average  for  the  men  being  161  and  for 
the  women  167.  In  selecting  a  group  of  men  and  women  whom  they 
judged  would  make  low  scores  the  faculty  were  equally  successful. 
Both  faculty  and  students  thus  showed  themselves  fairly  good  in 
their  ability  to  select  students  on  the  basis  of  intelligence,  though 
this  method  of  selection  is  inferior  to  selection  on  the  basis  of  actual 
scores.  The  correlation  between  the  Alpha  scores  of  the  women 
students  and  their  college  grades  for  the  fall  term  was  +  -52.  No 
correlations  are  given  in  the  Illinois  and  Dickinson  reports,  which 
are  only  preliminary. 

The  following  is  a  comparative  table  showing  scores  obtained 
at  the  University  of  Illinois,  Dickinson  College,  and  Southern 
Methodist  University: 

Southern 

University        Dickinson  Methodist 

of  Illinois  College  University 

Total  number  tested 3,254  213  321 

Number  of  freshmen 489  72  128 

Lowest  freshman  score     .....  52  75  60 

Highest  freshman  score 188  195  188 

Median  freshman  score 147  141  127 

Hunter  explains  the  lower  median  score  at  Southern  Methodist 
University  as  due  to  a  difference  in  the  method  of  conducting  the 
test. 

More  fully  developed  than  these  three  preliminary  investigations 
is  the  work  being  done  at  Brown  University.34  Colvin  reports  the 
results  obtained  from  103  freshmen  with  the  Alpha  test  and  two 
series  of  psychological  tests,  known  as  Brown  University  Series  I 
and  II,  which  were  separated  by  an  interval  of  several  days.  Each 
series  consisted  of  four  tests:  mutilated  sentences,  vocabulary, 
analogies  or  mixed  relations,  and  a  reasoning  test.  The  distribution 

"Hunter,  H.  T.  Intelligence  Testa  at  Southern  Methodist  University;  School  &  Society, 
1919.  io,  437-440. 

u  Colvin,  S.  S.  Psychological  Tests  at  Brown  University;  School  &  Society,  1919,  io,  27-30. 


14  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

of  scores  for  both  Series  I  and  Series  II  separately  and  for  the 
combined  scores  of  Series  I  and  II  conformed  closely  to  a  normal 
probability  curve.  The  correlation  between  Brown  University 
Series  I  and  II  is  +  .75,  and  between  the  average  of  these  two  series 
and  the  Alpha  test  is  +  .79.  The  correlation  between  the  Brown 
University  tests  and  the  average  academic  marks  of  the  first  and 
second  terms  is  +  .59,  and  between  the  army  test  and  the  average 
of  the  marks  of  the  first  and  second  terms  is  +  -45-  Practical  appli- 
cation was  made  of  the  tests  to  foretell  a  student's  probable  aca- 
demic success  and  to  aid  in  diagnosing  cases  of  failure  in  school 
work.  Colvin  found  that  two-thirds  of  80  students  reported  as 
doing  unsatisfactory  work  in  the  first  term  had  made  low  scores  in 
their  psychological  tests,  while  only  one-sixth  of  the  men  had  a 
satisfactory  grade.  Most  of  the  cases  of  students  doing  poor  college 
work  who  had  obtained  high  scores  in  the  tests  were  due  not  to 
lack  of  ability,  but  to  other  reasons.  So  satisfactory  have  the  tests 
been  in  determining  the  students'  mental  status  and  helping  them 
that  they  are  still  being  employed. 

In  a  recent  article  in  the  Educational  Review  35  Professor  Colvin 
compares  in  greater  detail  the  scores  and  correlations  obtained  in 
the  Brown  University  tests  and  the  Alpha  test,  and  reports  results 
secured  in  giving  the  Brown  tests  and  the  Thorndike  tests  to  300 
freshmen.  The  Brown  tests  require  about  fifty-five  minutes  of 
actual  working  time  as  contrasted  with  about  three  hours  required 
by  the  Thorndike  tests.  The  median  score  for  the  Brown  tests  is 
62.4  with  a  standard  deviation  of  10.59,  compared  to  the  median 
score  for  the  Thorndike  tests  of  76.5  with  a  standard  deviation  of 
14.89,  the  difference  being  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Brown  tests 
have  a  maximum  score  of  100,  while  the  Thorndike  tests  have  a 
maximum  score  of  about  150.  The  correlation  between  the  scores 
obtained  by  students  in  the  two  tests  is  +  .816  with  a  P. E.  of  .0138, 
but  the  Thorndike  tests  show  a  higher  correlation  with  academic 
marks  (+  .53)  than  the  Brown  tests  (+  46).  While  the  Thorndike 
tests  show  a  slight  superiority  in  prognostic  value,  nevertheless 
results  show  that  men  receiving  scores  in  the  lowest  fifteen  per- 
centile  of  either  the  Brown  or  the  Thorndike  tests  have  a  relatively 
small  chance  of  graduating  from  college.  Colvin  warns  against  the 
danger  of  refusing  men  admission  to  college  solely  because  of  a  low 
psychological  record.  He  advocates  the  conservative  position  of 

»  Colvin,  S.  S.  The  Validity  of  Psychological  Tests  for  College  Entrance.  Educational  Review. 
June,  1920. 


History  of  Freshman  Tests  15 

regarding  the  psychological  record  as  one  among  many  factors  to 
be  considered  in  diagnosing  cases  of  individual  students. 

At  Ohio  State  University  the  Alpha  test  was  successfully  given 
to  5,950  students  October  10,  1919,  in  groups  of  one  hundred  to 
two  hundred  and  fifty.  The  distribution  of  scores  for  the  entire 
group  conformed  to  the  normal  probability  curve,  the  students 
being  grouped  into  five  classes  as  follows: 

Approximate 
Class     Score  Percentage  in  Each  Class 

I.  178-212  Very  superior  intelligence 5 

II.  155-177  Superior  20 

III.  115-154  Average  50 

IV.  85-114  Fair  20 

V.  o-  84  Poor  5 

The  percentage  of  students  falling  into  each  of  these  five  classes 
was  then  determined  for  the  various  university  units  separately, 
such  as  the  Graduate  School,  Commerce  and  Journalism,  Law, 
Medicine,  Engineering,  Arts — Education,  Agriculture,  Pharmacy, 
etc.  The  median,  highest,  and  lowest  scores,  and  the  number 
examined  for  each  class  (college  year),  in  each  college  and  in  the 
whole  university,  are  reported.  The  highest  median  score,  157, 
was  obtained  by  the  Graduate  School;  Arts  received  second  place 
with  a  median  score  of  147;  Commerce  and  Journalism  third,  with 
a  median  score  of  146;  and  so  on  down  to  a  median  of  112,  (Veterin- 
ary Medicine  group).  The  report  gives  an  interesting  comparison 
of  the  various  college  groups. 

The  Thorndike  tests,  previously  mentioned,  are  rapidly  becoming 
more  widely  employed  for  freshmen  testing  than  the  Army  Alpha. 
Jones,86  writing  in  the  Educational  Review,  clearly  describes  the 
general  nature  of  these  tests.  Although  conceding  their  practical 
value,  he  urges  that  they  should  be  employed  "not  to  the  exclusion 
of  other  measures  for  determining  fitness,  but  along  with  them." 
Evidence  of  a  student's  fitness  to  undertake  college  work  should,  in 
Professor  Jones'  opinion,  include  his  preparation  for  college  work, 
his  character  and  promise,  his  health,  and  his  intelligence  denoted 
by  his  score  in  the  Thorndike  test.  In  a  brief  report  before  the 
New  York  Branch  of  the  American  Psychological  Association  this 
year  Mr.  Wood  stated  that  the  purpose  of  the  Thorndike  tests 
was  fourfold:  I.  To  select  those  fit  for  a  college  course;  2.  To  aid 
college  committees;  3.  To  assist  the  progress  of  schools;  4.  To 

M  Jones,  A.  L.  Psychological  Tests  for  College  Admission;  Educational  Review,  1919,  $8. 
271-278. 


1 6  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

assist  the  Dean  in  the  administration  of  the  college.  Results  from 
a  large  number  of  freshmen  showed  a  correlation  between  the  total 
Thorndike  score  and  the  average  college  grade  of  +  .52,  and  the 
median  college  grade  of  +  .54.  Although  no  published  reports  of 
results  secured  with  the  Thorndike  tests  have  appeared,  investi- 
gators who  are  employing  the  tests  find  them  highly  satisfactory. 


SECTION  II 

STATEMENT  OF  THE  PROBLEM  WITH  A  LIST 
OF  THE  TESTS  EMPLOYED 

The  present  investigation,  begun  at  Barnard  College  in  the  fall 
of  1915,  about  two  years  before  the  Army  Alpha  and  the  Thorndike 
Tests  were  originated,  was  carried  on  during  the  years  1915-16, 
1916-17,  the  fall  of  1917,  and  the  spring  of  1919.  The  general 
purpose  underlying  the  investigation  was  similar  to  that  underlying 
the  investigations  of  other  experimenters  during  this  period — a 
purpose  which  continues  to  motivate  present  studies.  The  aim  was 
first,  to  establish  norms  and  standards  of  performance  in  mental 
tests  for  Barnard  freshmen,  and  second,  to  give  students  a  clear 
conception  of  their  abilities  and  aptitudes  along  various  lines. 
More  specifically,  this  investigation  concerns  the  trial  of  a  group 
of  tests  with  the  object  first,  of  determining  their  reliability  as 
measures;  second,  their  correlation  with  freshman  university  grades; 
and  third,  with  physical  records  taken  in  the  gymnasium. 

In  selecting  the  particular  group  of  tests  to  be  used  several  factors 
contributed.  Paramount  in  importance  was  the  desire  to  select 
a  series  of  tests  of  such  nature  as  to  call  into  play  various  mental 
functions.  In  addition,  it  was  desired  to  secure  tests  which  previous 
investigators  had  found  to  have  a  positive  correlation  with  such 
factors  as  age,  ability  along  some  vocational  line,  or  general  intelli- 
gence. Equally  important  in  determining  the  final  selection  was  the 
time-limitation  factor.  Owing  to  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  stu- 
dents to  act  as  subjects  for  a  longer  period,  and  to  the  factor  of 
fatigue  which  would  probably  influence  the  results  of  tests  com- 
pleted after  that  time,  it  was  found  necessary  to  have  a  series  of 
tests  such  as  could  be  completed  in  one  hour.  Consideration  of  all 
these  factors  finally  lead  to  this  selection  of  tests : 

1.  Coordination  8.  Verb-object  14.  Word  Memory 

2.  Tapping  9.  Mixed  Relations  15.  Logical  Memory 

3.  Cancellation  10.  Word  Building  16.  Substitution 

4.  Checking  II.  Word  Naming  17.  Completion 

5.  Color  Naming  12.  Knox  Cube  18.  Information 

6.  Directions  13.  Digit  Span  19.  Vocabulary 

7.  Opposites 


SECTION  III 
METHOD   AND   TECHNIQUE  OF  THE   INVESTIGATION 

Shortly  after  the  beginning  of  the  academic  year,  in  the  fall  of 
1915,  the  series  of  tests  selected  according  to  the  manner  described 
in  the  preceding  section  was  submitted  to  a  preliminary  trial  in 
order  to  determine  the  best  method  of  conducting  the  tests,  and  to 
afford  the  writer  practice  in  their  administration.  After  determining 
the  general  method  of  procedure,  a  notice  was  posted  in  the  Fresh- 
man Study  of  Barnard,  stating  that  a  series  of  psychological  exam- 
inations had  been  instituted  for  Barnard  freshmen,  and  giving  a 
description  of  the  nature  and  purpose  of  the  tests.  It  was  stated 
that  the  time  required  for  the  examination  was  one  hour,  and  an 
accompanying  schedule  indicated  the  hours  at  which  the  test 
might  be  taken.  The  place  where  the  examinations  were  to  be 
held  was  also  indicated,  and  all  freshmen  interested  were  requested 
to  sign  their  names  on  the  schedule  opposite  the  hour  at  which 
they  could  take  the  test.  This  method  of  permitting  the  student 
to  take  the  test  at  the  hour  most  convenient  for  her,  rather  than  at 
a  time  prescribed  by  the  experimenter,  seems  advisable  in  that  it 
establishes  a  certain  uniformity  in  conditions,  the  student  usually 
being  in  her  best  physical  condition  at  the  time  of  testing.  In  addi- 
tion, letters  were  sent  to  individual  students  in  the  class,  reminding 
them  of  the  examination,  and  an  account,  written  by  Professor 
Hollingworth,  of  the  widespread  use  of  similar  tests  by  reliable 
business  firms  and  their  value  in  selecting  candidates  for  positions 
along  various  lines,  appeared  in  the  college  weekly.  A  similar  notice 
of  the  tests  was  posted  in  Freshman  Study  in  the  fall  of  1916,  and  in 
the  fall  of  1917.  Letters  were  also  sent  to  individual  students  at 
these  times. 

The  subjects,  as  indicated,  were  Barnard  students  in  their  fresh- 
man year.  The  fact  that  they  had  had  no  training  in  experimental 
psychology,  and  were  unfamiliar  with  the  tests  employed,  made 
them  a  suitable  group  for  testing.  Out  of  a  class  of  about  one 
hundred  and  forty  freshmen  during  1915-16,  one  hundred  were 
tested.  This  constitutes  our  first  group  of  subjects  whom  we  will 
designate  as  Group  I.  During  the  year  1916-17  (class  of  1920), 


Method  and  Technique  of  the  Investigation  19 

eighty- five  freshmen  were  tested,  and  in  the  fall  of  1917  fifteen  more 
(class  of  1921)  were  given  the  tests.  These  last  two  groups  together 
constitute  our  second  group  of  one  hundred  freshmen  whom  we  will 
designate  Group  II.  In  addition,  in  order  to  determine  the  reliability 
of  the  tests,  the  series  was  divided  into  two  equivalent  parts  in  a 
manner  to  be  described  later.  In  the  spring  of  1919,  during  the 
period  extending  from  March  14  to  May  15,  forty-five  freshmen 
from  the  class  of  1922  were  tested  twice  on  the  same  day,  each  test 
requiring  forty-five  minutes  of  the  student's  time. 

All  the  tests  were  given  individually.  This  enabled  the  experi- 
menter to  supervise  personally  the  performance  of  each  subject  and 
to  stop  her  at  any  indication  that  she  did  not  fully  understand  the 
directions  given.  It  was  likewise  an  important  factor  in  contributing 
to  the  standardization  of  the  conditions  of  the  experiment.  The 
subject  was  by  this  means  freed  from  any  feelings  of  irritation  or 
discouragement  that  might  have  arisen  if  she  had  taken  the  test 
with  a  group  of  students  whom  she  knew  to  be  more  rapid  workers 
than  herself.  In  such  a  case  the  knowledge  that  others  were  accom- 
plishing their  work  in  a  shorter  period  of  time  would  operate  to 
arouse  in  some  subjects  such  feelings  of  the  futility  of  competing  with 
their  companions  that  their  resulting  performance  would  have  been 
much  slower  than  would  have  been  the  case  where  the  tests  were 
taken  under  more  favorable  conditions.  Each  freshman,  then,  was 
examined  individually,  and  every  effort  was  exercised  to  make  the 
conditions  of  the  experiment  as  uniform  as  possible.  The  room 
employed  for  the  testing  was  one  regularly  used  by  the  Department 
of  Psychology  for  advanced  experimental  work,  and  from  the  point 
of  view  of  light  and  ventilation  it  is  well  adapted  for  research. 
Except  during  the  tapping  and  coordination  tests,  the  subject  sat 
at  a  small  laboratory  table,  opposite  the  experimenter.  As  the  room 
was  so  situated  as  to  be  almost  unaffected  by  sounds  from  neighbor- 
ing rooms,  and  was  itself  kept  in  a  quiet  condition,  there  was  nothing 
to  distract  the  subject's  attention  from  her  work. 

As  previously  indicated,  attempt  to  secure  uniformity  in  admin- 
istering the  tests  was  also  made.  Besides  giving  the  tests  individ- 
ually, the  order  in  which  the  tests  are  listed  was  followed.  In  a  few 
cases  circumstances  rendered  it  necessary  to  deviate  slightly  from 
this  order,  but  in  general  it  was  followed  rigidly.  The  result  of  the 
preliminary  trial  had  been  to  indicate  the  most  satisfactory  manner 
in  which  the  tests  should  be  administered.  The  aim  was  to  make 
the  directions  as  clear,  simple,  and  direct  as  possible.  As  a  detailed 


2O  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

account  of  the  instructions  given  for  each  test  will  be  considered  in 
the  next  section,  it  is  only  necessary  to  mention  here  that  the  method 
of  procedure  agreed  upon  was  carefully  followed  with  one  or  two 
exceptions  where  misinterpretation  of  the  directions  resulted  in  the 
experimenter's  repeating  the  instructions  in  a  slightly  different  form. 


SECTION  IV 

DISCUSSION  OF  THE  TESTS,   INCLUDING  MATERIALS 
USED,  METHODS  OF  PROCEDURE,  AND  RESULTS 

Test  No.  I.     Coordination 

This  test,  popularly  termed  the  "three-hole  test"  calls  for  both 
speed  and  accuracy  of  movement  and  gives  an  indication  of  the 
subject's  motor  ability  and  coordination. 

Apparatus:  An  oak  plate  tilted  at  an  angle  of  45  degrees  to  the 
base  board,  containing  three  brass-line  holes  arranged  in  the  form 
of  an  equilateral  triangle,  about  8  cm.  apart.  Contact  of  the  metal 
rod  with  the  bottom  of  the  hole  makes  an  electrical  connection 
recorded  by  the  automatic  counter.  Stop  watch. 

Instructions:  "I  want  you  to  hold  this  (stylus)  in  your  right  hand 
and  to  touch  the  bottom  of  each  one  of  these  targets  as  quickly  as 
possible,  going  around  in  a  circle  without  skipping  any  of  the  holes. 
You  see  every  time  you  do  so,  the  contact  is  registered  on  the 
electric  counter.  I  want  to  see  how  many  contacts  you  can  make 
in  one  minute.  You  start  then  when  I  say,  'Go'  and  stop  when  I 
say,  'Stop.'" 

Method  of  scoring :  The  score  represents  the  number  of  contacts 
made  in  one  minute. 

Results:  The  average,  standard  deviation,  and  range  for  groups 
I  and  II  (200  freshmen  in  all),  is  indicated  in  Table  I  below: 

TABLE  I 

Test  No.  i 
Coordination 

Group  I 

Group  II 

Test  No.  2.     Tapping 

This  test  has  been  widely  used  as  a  test  of  motor  speed  and  endur- 
ance and  has  been  considered  by  some  experimenters  to  afford  the 
best  index  of  motor  capacity. 

Apparatus:  Tapping  board  with  metal  plate  and  electric  counter. 


Range 

Poorest 

Best 

(Av.  of 

(Av.  of 

Average 

S.  D. 

lowest  5) 

best  s) 

82.7 

10.77 

63-8 

109.0 

84.I 

11.92 

60.8 

IIO.4 

22  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

Tapping  stylus  with  flexible  connecting  wire  attached.  Two  dry 
cells.  Stop  watch. 

Instructions:  "I  want  you  to  hold  this  (stylus)  in  your  right  hand 
and  tap  on  here  (indicating  the  brass  plate)  as  quickly  as  possible. 
I  want  to  see  how  many  times  you  can  tap  in  a  minute.  Start  when 
I  say  'Go'  and  stop  when  I  say  'Stop.' "  These  instructions  were 
accompanied  by  an  illustration  of  tapping  by  the  experimenter. 
For  this  test  the  subject  sat  directly  in  front  of  the  tapping  board, 
resting  her  arm  on  the  table,  and  assumed  the  position  most  con- 
venient for  her. 

Method  of  scoring:  The  score  represents  the  number  of  taps 
made  in  one  minute. 

Results:  Table  II  shows  the  results  obtained  in  this  test: 

TABLE  II 


Test  No.  2 
Tapping 

Group  I 
Group  II 


Range 

Poorest 

Best 

(Av.  of 

(Av.  of 

Average 

S.  D. 

lowest  5) 

bests) 

376.26 

51.69 

263.2 

499.0 

368.54 

39-32 

283.0 

451.4 

Test  No.  j.     Cancellation 

This  test  is  well  adapted  for  measuring  concentration  and  alert- 
ness of  attention,  maximum  effort  being  required  to  accomplish 
the  task  quickly  and  accurately.  In  addition  to  involving  such 
factors  as  "speed  of  perception"  and  "discrimination"  it  is  partly 
dependent  upon  the  subject's  muscular  reaction  to  stimuli  presented. 
Owing  to  the  fact,  previously  mentioned,  that  it  was  necessary  to 
complete  all  the  tests  in  one  hour,  it  was  found  advisable  to  limit 
some  of  the  tests.  Inasmuch  as  we  desired  to  include  the  Checking 
Test  which  involves  functions  similar  to  those  involved  in  Cancella- 
tion and  as  it  was  believed  that  these  two  tests  together  would 
exert  an  unfavorable  influence  upon  the  results  of  following  tests 
due  to  the  eye-strain  they  would  cause,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to 
use  only  one  half  of  the  Cancellation  blank  and  one  half  of  the 
Checking  blank.  The  halves  of  these  blanks  have  been  found  by 
Woodworth  and  Wells  to  be  equal  in  difficulty  and  they  suggest 
that  one  half  of  the  blank  in  the  case  of  both  these  tests  is  a  suf- 
ficient test.  Thus  we  were  able  to  avoid  undue  eye-strain  and  were 
further  able  to  spend  the  extra  time,  saved  from  halving  these  two 
tests,  in  lengthening  three  of  the  Association  tests. 


Discussion  of  Tests  23 

Materials:  Woodworth-Wells  number  blank,  Form  A.87  Stop 
watch.  A  pencil  was  used  for  checking. 

Instructions:  After  placing  the  blank  on  the  table  before  the 
subject,  face  downwards,  the  following  instructions  were  given: 
"When  I  say  'Go'  I  want  you  to  turn  over  this  sheet  of  paper,  and 
cross  out  all  the  3*3,  as  quickly  as  possible,  going  across  the  paper 
like  this  (illustrating).  There  are  five  3's  on  every  cross  line  so  you 
want  to  be  sure  to  cross  out  all  those  on  the  first  line  before  passing 
to  the  second  line.  Start  when  I  say  'Go.'  " 

Method  of  scoring:  The  time  taken  to  complete  the  cancellation 
was  the  score.  Errors  were  very  rare  and  were  therefore  entirely 
disregarded. 

Results:  Table  III  indicates  the  performance  in  this  test. 

TABLE  III 

Range 

Poorest  Best 

Test  No.  3  (Av.  of  (Av.  of 

Cancellation  Average  S.  D.  lowest  5)  best  5) 

Group  I 76.51  17.51          128.28  52.12 

sec. 
Group  II 76.77  13.82         105.60  50.76 

sec. 

Test  No.  4.     Checking 

This  test  measures  functions  similar  to  those  employed  in  the 
Cancellation  test,  although  here  the  functions  involved  are  more 
complex.  To  quote  Woodworth  and  Wells,  "The  detection  of  a 
pair  of  digits  in  a  group  is  a  specialized  performance,  not  reducible 
to  the  acts  of  detecting  the  single  digits.  The  difficulty  of  this  test 
is  mainly  perceptual  and  the  overlapping  which  is  effective  in  find- 
ing pairs  of  digits  must  occur  in  the  perceptive  process."  38  Inas- 
much as  Professor  Woodworth  found  the  first  half  of  his  number 
blank,  Form  B,  to  be  equal  in  difficulty  to  the  second  half,  for  the 
reason  mentioned  under  "Cancellation"  only  one  half  of  this  blank 
was  employed. 

Materials:  Woodworth-Wells'  number  blank,  Form  B.  Stop 
watch.  Pencil. 

Method  of  procedure:  As  in  the  Cancellation  Test,  the  blank 
was  placed  before  the  subject,  face  downwards,  and  the  following 
instructions  were  given:  "When  I  say  'Go'  I  want  you  to  turn  this 

"  Woodworth,  R.  S.,  and  Wells,  F.  L.  Association  Tests.  Psychological  Monograph,  No.  57, 
1911,  P.  24. 

»»  Woodworth,  R.  S.,  and  Wells,  F.  L.,  Op.  cit. 


Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 


paper  over  and  check  any  way  at  all,  as  quickly  as  possible,  all  the 
numbers  that  contain  both  a  9  and  a  6.  Start  when  I  say  'Go.' " 

Method  of  scoring:  The  total  number  of  checks  to  be  made  was 
35.  Therefore  the  score  was  obtained  by  dividing  the  time  taken 
by  the  subject  by  the  number  of  correct  checks  made  and  then 
multiplying  by  35.  No  account  was  taken  of  wrong  checks  made  as 
it  was  believed  that  the  time  spent  in  making  them  sufficiently 
penalized  the  subject. 

Results :  Table  IV  shows  the  performance  attained  in  this  test. 


Teat  No.  4 
Checking 

Group  I 
Group  II 


TABLE  IV 


Average 

102.93 

sec. 

105.98 


S.  D. 
19.64 

20.45 


Range 

Poorest  Best 

(Av.  of  (Av.  of 

lowest  5)  best  5) 

152.28  72.6 

161.0  76.86 


Test  No.  5.     Color  Naming 


"This  is  a  test  of  discrimination-reaction,  involving  prompt 
decision  and  correct  reaction  to  a  situation." 

Materials:  Wood  worth-Wells'  Color  Naming  blank.39  Stop 
watch. 

Method  of  procedure:  Preliminary  to  the  actual  test  the  blank 
was  placed  before  the  subject  with  only  the  sample  line  of  five 
colors  showing.  The  subject  was  then  asked  to  give  the  names  of 
each  color.  Then  the  following  directions  were  given :  "I  want  you 
to  name  all  these  colors  for  me,  as  quickly  as  possible,  going  across 
the  paper,  from  left  to  right,  as  in  reading.  Start  when  I  say  'Go.'w 

Method  of  scoring:  The  score  was  the  time  taken  by  the  subject 
to  complete  the  entire  series  of  100  reactions. 

Results :  The  results  are  shown  in  Table  V. 


Test  No.  5 
Color  Naming 

Group  I 
Group  II     . 


TABLE  V 


Average 
56.01 

sec. 

58.55 
sec. 


s.  D. 

8-75 

9-36 


Range 

Poorest  Best 

(Av.  of  (Av.  of 

lowest  5)  best  5) 


78.84 
sec. 

81.32 
sec. 


41.16 
sec. 

39-0 
sec. 


«»  Op.  cit. 


**"\. 

Discussion  of  Tests  (25      j 

Test  No.  6.     Directions 

This  test  measures  the  subject's  speed  in  apprehension  and  her 
general  intelligence. 

Materials:  Woodworth-Wells'  Hard  Directions  blank.  Stop 
watch. 

Instructions:  "When  I  say  'Go'  I  want  you  to  turn  this  blank 
over  and  follow  directions — do  just  what  the  directions  say,  as 
quickly  as  possible." 

Method  of  scoring:  The  score  is  the  time  in  seconds  required  to 
complete  the  test.  Errors  were  counted  separately. 

Results :  Table  VI  indicates  the  performance  in  this  test. 

TABLE  VI 

Range 

Poorest  Best 

Test  No.  6  (Av.  of  (Av.  of 

Directions  Average  S.  D.  lowest  5)  best  5) 

Group  I 126.15  52.00  296.6  64.08 

sec.  sec.  sec. 

Group  II 119.76  41.65  243.2  61.6 

Test  No.  7.     Opposites 

For  a  test  which  would  indicate  a  general  tendency  or  "adjustment  ' 
to  react  according  to  instructions"  and  also  measure  the  quickness 
and  accuracy  of  association  of  ideas,  the  two  equal  lists  of  opposites 
proposed  by  Woodworth  and  Wells  were  combined  into  one  list. 
Our  reason  for  combining  the  lists  was  in  order  to  get  a  real  measure 
of  the  individual's  ability  to  name  opposites.  If  we  had  taken  only 
the  short  list  we  would  have  obtained  an  adequate  measure  of  the 
subject's  alertness  of  attention  and  ability  to  adapt  herself  to  a 
situation,  but  we  desired  to  go  further  than  this  and  find  out  whether 
the  individual  really  had  any  special  ability  for  naming  opposites. 
This  test  also  indicates  facility  in  handling  words  and  is  generally 
considered  to  have  a  high  correlation  with  general  intelligence. 

Materials:  Woodworth-Wells'  Lists  of  Opposites  printed  on 
cardboard.  Stop  watch. 

Method  of  procedure:  These  instructions  were  given:  "I  want 
you  to  name  the  opposite  for  each  one  of  these  words  (showing 
card  with  lists,  at  a  distance)  as  quickly  as  possible,  not  repeating 
the  words  themselves  but  just  naming  the  opposite.  For  instance, 
if  the  word  were  'tall,'  you  would  say  'short.'  Be  sure  you  give  the 


26  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

exact  opposite  of  each  word  before  proceeding  to  the  next.  Do  you 
understand?" 

The  subject  was  stopped  if  a  wrong  opposite  was  given  and  not 
permitted  to  proceed  with  the  other  words  until  the  right  opposite 
was  given. 

Method  of  scoring:  As  no  errors  were  permitted  to  be  made  in  the 
test,  the  score  represents  the  time  taken  for  completing  the  task. 

Results:  Table  VII  indicates  the  results  obtained  in  this  test. 

TABLE  VII 

Range 

Poorest  Best 

Test  No.  7  (Av.  of  (Av.  of 

Opposites  Average  S.  D.  lowest  5)  best  5) 

Group  I 51.08  10.33  79-oo  34-84 

sec.  sec. 

Group  II 50.88  8.55  71.52  35.92 

Test  No.  8.     Verb-object 

This  is  also  one  of  the  association  tests  and  measures  ability  to 
handle  verbal  relations.  As  in  the  Opposites  Test  we  combined  the 
two  equivalent  lists  of  verbs  proposed  by  Woodworth  and  Wells 
into  one  test.  Desire  to  obtain  a  real  measure  of  the  subject's 
innate  ability  to  name  objects  was  the  reason  for  lengthening  this 
test. 

Materials:  Two  equal  lists  of  verbs  combined  into  one  list  and 
printed  on  cardboard.  Stop  watch. 

Method  of  procedure:  These  instructions  were  given:  "In  this 
case  I  want  you  to  name  an  object  for  each  one  of  these  verbs,  as 
quickly  as  possible,  not  repeating  the  verbs  themselves  but  simply 
naming  the  objects.  For  instance,  if  the  verb  were  'bake,'  you 
would  say  'bread'  or  'cookie.'  Do  you  understand?" 

Method  of  scoring:  As  no  errors  were  permitted  to  be  made,  the 
score  presents  the  time  required  to  complete  the  test. 

Results:  The  results  are  indicated  in  Table  VIII. 

TABLE  VIII 

Range 

Poorest  Best 

Test  No.  8  (Av.  of  (Av.  of 

Verb-object  Average  S.  D.  lowest  s)  best  5) 

Group  I 65.55  12.32  99.56  45.48 

sec. 
Group  II 67.35  I2-9i  99-°8  47-24 


Discussion  of  Tests  27 

.  Test  No.  9.     Mixed  Relations  or  Analogies 

This  test  measures  facility  in  handling  associations,  and  ability 
to  perceive  relationships  among  logical  material.  As  in  the  two 
preceding  Association  Tests  the  two  equal  lists  proposed  by  Wood- 
worth  and  Wells  ("Eye:  see  =  Ear-  — ;  Oyster:  shell  = 

Banana: "  and  "Good:  bad  =  Long: ;  Man:  woman 

=  Boy: ")  were  combined  into  one  long  list  for  a  reason 

similar  to  that  which  led  us  to  lengthen  the  Verb-object  and  Oppo- 
sites  tests. 

Materials:  Combination  of  Woodworth  Wells'  two  equal  lists 
for  Mixed  Relations  test,  printed  on  cardboard.  Stop  watch. 

Method  of  procedure:  The  subject  was  shown  sample  analogies 
and  the  following  instructions  given:  "In  this  case  there  are  three 
words  given  and  you  are  to  supply  a  fourth  word  that  has  the  same 
relation  to  the  third  word  as  the  second  word  has  to  the  first.  For 

example,  in  this  case,  'Box:  square  =  Orange: ,'  square 

gives  the  shape  of  the  box.  Then  the  shape  of  an  orange  is  round, 
so  you  would  supply  'round*  as  the  fourth  term.  (Two  other  illus- 
trations were  then  given.)  The  relations  involved  won't  always  be 
the  same;  it  may  be  the  case  of  shape,  or  opposites,  etc.  But  you 
look  at  the  first  pair  of  terms  in  every  case  and  then  make  the 
second  pair  express  the  same  relationship  as  the  first  pair.  Do  you 
understand  ?" 

Method  of  scoring:  As  no  mistakes  were  allowed,  the  score  is 
the  time  required  to  complete  the  test. 

Results:  The  results  are  shown  in  Table  IX. 

TABLE  IX 

Range 

Poorest  Best 

Test  No.  9  (Av.  of  (Av.  of 

Mixed  Relations  Average  S.  D.  lowest  5)  best  5) 

Group  I 139.64  42.97  266.6  82.88 

sec.  sec.  sec. 

Group  II 131.66  32.97  227.2  79.56 

sec.  sec.  sec. 

Test  No.  jo.     Word  Building 

For  a  test  that  would  indicate  ingenuity  and  skill  in  the  manipu- 
lation of  letters  and  give  a  measure  of  the  subject's  command  of 
vocabulary,  the  word  building  test  was  used.  The  number  of  words 
written  in  a  given  time  depends  in  part  on  whether  the  subject 


28  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

proceeds  with  a  definite  plan,  combining,  for  example,  "a"  with  all 
the  other  letters,  then  "e"  with  all  the  other  letters,  -etc.,  or  goes 
about  the  task  in  a  vague  or  random  fashion. 

Materials:  Sheet  of  paper  at  the  top  of  which  were  written  the 
letters  a  e  i  I  p  r. 

Method  of  procedure:  The  procedure  as  given  by  Whipple  40  was 
followed  with  the  exception  that  the  time-limit  was  three  minutes 
instead  of  five. 

Method  of  scoring:  The  score  represents  the  number  of  words 
written.  A  word  was  considered  correct  if  it  is  included  in  Whipple's 
list  of  admitted  words. 

Results:  Table  X  shows  the  results  secured  in  this  test. 

TABLE  X 

Range 

Poorest  Best 

Test  No.  10  (Av.  of  (Av.  of 

Word  Building  Average  S.  D.    .        lowest  s)  best  5) 

Group  I       .  16.33  4-93  6.0  27.2 

words 
Group  II 16.23  4-52  6.4  24.6 

Test  No.  ii.     Word  Naming 

This  uncontrolled  association  test  appears  to  be  a  good  test  for 
determining  individual  differences,  the  subjects  tending  to  write 
words  belonging  to  various  categories.  Such  differences  as  the 
tendency  to  write  series  of  rhymed  words,  to  write  a  series  of  words 
that  are  grouped  about  one  central  idea,  then  to  write  another 
series  of  words  grouped  about  a  second  central  idea,  suggested 
perhaps  by  the  last  word  in  the  first  series,  etc.,  are  revealed  in  this 
test.  It  also  depends  in  part  on  the  subject's  speed  of  writing. 

Materials:   Stop  watch.   Sheet  of  paper  and  pencil. 

Instructions  as  follows  were  given:  "I  am  going  to  give  you  three 
minutes  in  which  to  write  all  the  words  you  can.  It  makes  no  dif- 
ference what  sort  of  words  they  are — they  can  be  anything  you 
want  to  write." 

Method  of  scoring:  The  score  equals  the  number  of  words  written. 

Results:  Table  XI  shows  the  results  for  this  test. 

Test  12.     Knox  Cube 

This  test  gives  an  indication  of  the  subject's  power  of  observa- 
tion, memory,  and  ability  to  concentrate  her  attention.  It  involves 

«  Whipple,  G.  M.   Manual  of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests.   Part  II,  p.  275. 


Discussion  of  Tests  29 

the  ability  to  handle  concrete  objects  and  to  imitate  another's 
performance  with  accuracy. 

TABLE  XI 

Range 

Poorest  Best 

Test  No.  ii  (Av.  of  (Av.  of 

Word  Naming  Average  S.  D.  lowest  5)  best  5) 

Group  I       .......          67.14  12.78  40.8  94.2 

words  words          words 

Group  II 67.87  11.86  45.0  93.0 

Materials:   Five  one-inch  cubes. 

Method  of  procedure:  Pintner's  standardization  of  the  Knox 
test  was  followed.  Care  was  exercised  to  execute  all  movements 
slowly  and  deliberately  and  at  a  uniform  rate. 

Method  of  scoring:  The  score  represents  the  number  of  lines 
correctly  imitated. 

Results:   Results  are  indicated  in  Table  XII. 

TABLE  XII 

Range 

Poorest  Best 

Test  No.  12  (Av.  of  (Av.  of 

Knox  Cube  Average  S.  D.  lowest  5)  best  5) 

Group  I 9.20  1.56  5.8  11.4 

lines 
Group  II 8.82  1.64  4.8  12.0 

lines 

Test  No.  13.     Digit  Span 

To  measure  ability  to  reproduce  with  accuracy  disconnected  and 
non-logical  material,  the  digit  span  test  was  employed.  It  tests  the 
subject's  power  to  concentrate  her  attention  upon  the  series  of 
digits  as  they  are  read  aloud  to  her  by  the  experimenter  and  to  so 
retain  said  series  in  her  mind  that  she  may  reproduce  it  with  abso- 
lute accuracy  immediately  after  the  experimenter  has  ceased 
speaking.  It  affords  an  opportunity  also  to  observe  individual 
differences. 

Materials:   Digit  Span  blank.   Stop  watch. 

Method  of  procedure :  These  instructions  were  given :  "I  am 
going  to  read  some  numbers  to  you  and  as  soon  as  I  have  finished 
saying  them,  I  want  you  to  repeat  them  in  exactly  the  same  order." 
The  smallest  number  ol  digits  given  was  five.  Three  trials  were 


30  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

given  for  each  number.  The  attempt  was  made  to  repeat  the  num- 
bers without  rhythm. 

Method  of  scoring:  The  score  represents  the  highest  number  of 
digits  correctly  repeated  two  trials  out  of  three. 

Results:  Table  XIII  indicates  the  results  of  this  test. 

TABLE  XIII 

Range 

Poorest  Best 

Test  No.  13  (Av.  of  (Av.  of 

Digit  Span  Average  S.  D.  lowest  5)  best  5) 

Group  I  ....*....  7.39  digits  1.31  5  digits  10.2  digits 
Group  II 7.67  "  1.29  5.2  "  10.2  " 

Test  No.  14.     Word  Memory 
Test  No.  15.     Logical  Memory 

Both  of  these  tests  call  into  play  functions  similar  to  those 
demanded  in  the  digit  span  test.  However,  here  the  material  to  be 
reproduced  has  meaning,  consisting  in  Test  14  of  a  series  of  con- 
crete words  and  in  Test  15  of  a  list  of  familiar  proverbs. 

Materials:  Cards  containing  a  list  of  25  words  and  a  list  of  25 
proverbs,  respectively.  Also  two  blanks  containing  50  words  and 
50  proverbs,  respectively.  The  cards  and  blanks  were  those  em- 
ployed by  Edith  Mulhall  Achilles.41 

Method  of  procedure:  Instructions  were  given  as  follows:  "I  am 
going  to  let  you  look  at  a  list  of  words  (or  proverbs  as  the  case 
might  be)  for  one  minute,  after  which  I  am  going  to  ask  you  to  write 
as  many  of  the  words  (or  proverbs)  as  you  remember."  The  subject 
was  allowed  one  minute  in  which  to  write  down  the  words  she 
remembered  and  two  minutes  to  write  the  proverbs.  After  record- 
ing the  words  remembered  the  subject  was  given  a  second  list  in 
which  there  were  25  words  previously  seen  and  25  new  words,  and 
was  asked  to  mark  "y"  all  the  words  she  recognized  as  having  seen 
before  and  "n"  those  she  thought  she  had  not  seen.  Similar  pro- 
cedure was  followed  for  the  test  with  proverbs. 

Method  of  scoring:  For  Recall  the  number  of  words  or  proverbs 
written  constitutes  the  score.  No  account  was  taken  of  the  order 
in  which  they  were  recalled,  or  any  false  recollections  recorded. 

In  scoring  Recognition  this  formula  was  employed  to  derive  the 
score : 

tt  Achilles,  Edith  Mulhall.  Archives  of  Psychology,  No.  44,  1920. 


Discussion  of  Tests  31 

50  (which  is  the  total  number  of  words  or  proverbs)  minus  2  x 
number  of  errors  =  score. 

Results:  Tables  XIV  and  XV  indicate  the  results  of  these  tests. 


TABLE  XIV 

Test  No.  14 
Word  Memory — 

Recollection  Average            S.  D. 

Group  I 1 1. 59 words        2.70 

Group  II     .......  10.91       "           2.79 

Word  Memory — Recognition 

Group  I 35.84      "           7.44 

Group  II 35.07       "           8.33 


Range 

Poorest  Best 

(Av.  of  (Av.  of 

lowest  5)  best  5) 

6.6  words  17.4  words 
6.2       "      18.0       " 


2O.O 
14.8 


47.2 
48.4 


Test  No.  15 

Logical  Memory — 

Recollection 

Group  I 
Group  II     .     . 


Logical  Memory — Recognition 

Group  I 

Group  II 


TABLE  XV 


Average 

6.19 

6.50 

proverbs 


36.75 

3747 


S.  D. 

1.74 
1.76 


8-95 
7.69 


Range 

Poorest  Best 

(Av.  of  (Av.  of 

lowest  5)  best  5) 


3-2 

proverbs 


17.2 

18.4 


9.6 

9.8 

proverbs 


47.6 

48.4 


Test  No.  16.     Substitution 

For  a  test  which  would  measure  speed  of  learning  new  associa- 
tions the  Substitution  test  was  employed.  In  this  test  a  key  is 
constantly  referred  to  and  as  the  test  proceeds  it  is  gradually  learned, 
the  subject  depending  less  and  less  upon  it.  Comparison  between 
the  time  taken  to  complete  the  first  and  second  halves  of  the  blank 
gives  a  measure  of  the  amount  of  time  saved  from  learning  the  key. 

Materials:  Substitution  test  blank.  The  blank  with  5  geometrical 
forms  was  used.  Stop  watch. 

Method  of  procedure:  The  key  was  explained  to  the  subject  and 
then  the  blank  was  placed  face  downwards  before  her  and  she  was 
instructed  to  turn  over  the  Substitution  blank  at  the  signal  "go" 
and  to  begin  with  the  first  form  and  take  each  one  as  it  came,  going 
across  the  paper  from  left  to  right,  and  to  write  the  proper  number 
in  each  form  according  to  the  key  at  the  top. 


32  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

Method  of  scoring:  Three  scores  were  taken,  representing  the 
time  for  the  first  half  of  the  blank,  the  second  half  and  the  whole 
blank,  respectively.  Errors,  being  rare,  were  counted  separately. 

Results:  The  data  for  this  test  are  found  in  Table  XVI. 

TABLE  XVI 

Range 
Test  No.  16  Average  S.  D.  Poorest  Best 

Substitution — i  Half  ....         seconds  seconds        seconds 

Group  I 64.33  9-69  87.68  46.8 

Group  II 66.68  12.14  97-6o  46.0 

Substitution— 2  Half 

Group  I 59-io  11.62  86.2  37.0 

Group  II 61.51  13.15  91.8  38.4 

Substitution— Whole        .      .      . 

Group  I 123.09  19.61          167.72  86.48 

Group  II 128.19  23.89         187.0  87.40 

Test  No.  17.     Completion 

For  measuring  correctness  and  facility  in  the  use  of  words,  readi- 
ness in  perceiving  and  comprehending  situations  and  affording 
some  indication  of  creative  ability,  the  Completion  test  was  em- 
ployed. To  quote  Trabue,  "On  the  whole  it  will  be  found  that 
ability  to  complete  these  sentences  successfully  is  very  closely  related 
to  what  is  usually  called  'Language  ability  .' "  ^ 

Materials:  Trabue  Language  Seal    A.   Stop  watch. 

Method  of  procedure:  The  standard  procedure  suggested  by 
Trabue  was  followed,  a  time-limit  of  four  minutes  being  employed. 

Method  of  scoring:  In  general,  the  method  was  to  follow  Dr. 
Trabue's  scoring;  "A  score  of  2  being  given  each  sentence  if  perfectly 
completed,  a  score  of  I  if  almost  but  not  quite  perfectly  completed, 
and  a  score  of  o  if  not  attempted  at  all  or  if  imperfectly  done." 
Total  of  48  points  is  the  maximum  score  attainable  in  Scale  A. 

Results:  Table  XVII  represents  the  performance  of  the  freshmen 
in  this  test. 

TABLE  XVII 

Range 
Poorest  Best 

Test  No.  17  <Av-  °f  (Av-  of 

Completion  Average  S.  D.  lowest  5)  best  5) 

Group  I 36.08  4.33  26.8  44.8 

Group  II 3578  4.36  25.2  44.4 

«  Trabue.   Completion-Test  Language  Scales. 


Discussion  of  Tests 


33 


Test  No.  18.     Information 

To  measure  range  of  information  and  obtain  some  conception 
of  the  number  and  kind  of  objects  known  and  the  degree  to  which 
they  are  known,  the  information  test  was  used.  It  tests  the  individ- 
ual's knowledge  rather  than  her  ability. 

Material:  The  information  test  blank  as  specified  in  Whipple's 
Manual,  containing  100  words  and  directions  for  marking  them. 

Method  of  procedure:  The  subject  followed  the  directions  at  the 
top  of  the  blank,  marking  each  word  with  a  certain  letter  which 
indicated  the  degree  to  which  it  was  known  to  her.  There  was  no 
time-limit  in  this  test,  the  subject  being  allowed  all  the  time  she 
desired  to  finish  the  blank. 

Method  of  scoring:  The  score  represents  the  number  of  words 
marked  "D,"  "E"  "F,"  and  "N,"  respectively.  As  no  check  was  used 
in  this  test,  the  score  probably  shows  over-estimation.  The  total 
score  was  obtained  by  assigning  these  values:  D  =  3;  E  =  2; 
F  =  I ;  and  N  =  o,  and  taking  their  sum. 

Results:  The  table  following  indicates  the  results  of  this  test. 


TABLE  XVIII 


Test  No.  1 8 


Average 

Information  D 2 1.47  words 

Information  E 13. 70      " 

Information  F 14.81       " 

Information  N 50.01       " 

Total  Score: 

Group  I 106.63 

Total  Score: 

Group  II 104.71 


s.  D. 

9.71 

6.16 

6-43 

10.35 


Range 
Poorest  Best 

3. 6  words   41 .6  words 


3 

1.8 
69.6 


25-51       59-8 


26.79       554 


28 

26.2 

29 

158.2 
161.8 


Test  No.  ip.     Vocabulary 

This  test  merely  indicates  the  number  of  words  in  the  individual's 
vocabulary. 

Materials:  Vocabulary  test  blank  as  specified  in  Whipple's 
Manual.43 

Method  of  procedure:  The  subject  was  asked  to  follow  the 
directions  given  at  the  top  of  the  test  blank  and  to  mark  the  words 
carefully  according  to  the  directions. 


'Op.  cit.   Vol.  2,  p.  310. 


34  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

Method  of  scoring:  The  score  represents  the  number  of  words 
marked  plus  (+).  This  number  indicates  the  vocabulary-index; 
the  index  taken  as  a  per  cent,  is  multiplied  into  28,000. 

Results:  Table  XIX  shows  the  results  for  this  test. 

TABLE  XIX 

Range 

Poorest  Best 

Test  No.  19  (Av.  of  (Av.  of 

Vocabulary  Average  S.  D.  lowest  5)  best  S) 

Group  I 74.8 1  words        6.86  59.6  86.6 

Group  II .     73.90      "  7.60  59.4  87.4 


SECTION  V 


NORMS  OF  PERFORMANCE  AND  THEIR  PRACTICAL 
APPLICATION 

To  summarize  the  results  of  the  preceding  section,  Table  XX 
shows  the  norms  of  performance  for  the  two  hundred  Barnard 
freshmen  (Groups  I  and  II),  in  all  the  various  tests.  The  average, 
probable  error,  and  range  from  the  poorest  to  the  best  score  are 
shown  for  each  test.  To  avoid  misrepresentation  of  facts  by  undue 
weight  being  given  extreme  cases,  the  average  of  the  five  poorest 
scores  is  in  each  case  taken  as  the  poorest  score,  and  the  average 
of  the  five  best  scores  as  the  best  score. 

The  following  is  a  comparative  table  comparing  our  results  with 
those  ofother  investigators  who  have  employed  some  of  these  tests 
with  freshmen.  Only  those  cases  are  considered  where  the  tests  are 
identical,  and  the  method  of  scoring  the  same. 


Test 

Cancellation 
Color  Naming    . 
Hard  Directions 
Opposites 
Word  Building  . 
Digit  Span    . 
Information 


Barnard  Norm      Bingham 

76.6   sec.      48.3  sec. 

57.2    sec.      56.2  sec. 
122.9   sec- 

50.9   sec. 

1 6.2   words 
7-53  digits     7     digits 

20.4   words 


Kitson 
69.2  sec. 


Other  Investigators 


Washburn,      153     sec. 


1 1 0.9  sec 
52. 6  sec. 

21.4  words    Sunne,  1 8 

8.4  digits    Cattell,  7.6 

Waugh,  24 
King& 

M'Crory,  25 

Smith,  10.9 

Figures  I  to  23  inclusive,  show  graphically  the  dispersion  of 
measures  about  the  average  in  the  case  of  the  Barnard  freshmen. 
To  secure  uniformity  and  facilitate  comparison,  the  charts  are 
constructed  with  the  average  in  each  case  as  the  mid-point  and  the 
scores  expressed  in  terms  of  P.E.  units  from  the  average  as  a  center. 
The  P.E.  was  taken  as  the  unit  because  it  is  a  convenient  and 
familiar  measure.  The  vertical  scale  is  also  kept  constant  except 
in  three  tests  where  it  is  changed  for  reasons  to  be  specified  later. 
Inspection  of  these  figures  reveals  many  interesting  features. 

We  may  divide  the  tests  roughly  into  five  groups.44  The  first 
group  contains  the  two  motor  tests — Coordination  and  Tapping. 

44  Justification  of  this  division  of  the  tests  will  be  given  in  Chapter  VI. 


Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 


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FIG.   6  DIRECTIONS 


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F  I  6-    15  WORD     RECOGNITION 


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Ft  GIG      LOGICAL      II E  M  0  R  Y  -  R  E  C  0  L  L  E  C  T I  0  N 


Norms  of  Performance  and  Application  41 

Here  we  have  fairly  uniform  distributions.  The  actual  range  for 
Coordination  is  from  —3^  P.E.  to  +  5>£  P.E.  (skewed  at  the 
positive  end),  and  for  Tapping  from  —5^2  P.E.  to  +  7  P.E.  But 
to  take  the  actual  range  as  the  basis  of  our  comparison  is  misleading. 
A  clearer  conception  of  the  facts  is  obtained  by  noting  the  closeness 
with  which  the  measures  distribute  themselves  about  the  central 
tendency.  In  these  two  motor  tests  we  find  a  fairly  uniform  dis- 
tribution, suggesting  that  the  tests  are  adequate  for  selecting  good 
and  poor  subjects  even  in  a  group  as  homogeneous  as  college  fresh- 
men. 

In  the  second  group  we  may  place  those  tests  which  involve 
powers  of  perception  and  comprehension,  namely,  cancellation, 
checking,  color  naming,  word  naming,  and  substitution.  Here 
again  we  find  a  distribution  approximating  the  normal  curve  of 
distribution.  At  first  glance  it  would  appear  that  in  four  of  these 
tests  the  curves  are  skewed  toward  the  negative  or  poor  end.  In 
both  Fig.  3  and  Fig.  4,  (Cancellation  and  Number  Checking),  we 
find  a  case  at  —  7>^  P.E.;  in  Fig.  5  (Color  Naming)  we  find  one  at 
—  7  P.E.;  and  in  Figures  18,  19,  and  20  (Substitution),  we  find 
cases  at  —  9  P.E.;  —  7  P.E.,  and  —  8  P.E.;  while  at  the  good  end 
no  case  exceeds  +  4  P.E.  We  must  take  care,  however,  not  to  let 
these  extreme  cases  mislead  us  as  to  the  general  character  of  the 
distribution.  If  we  count  up  the  cases  on  either  side  of  the  average 
we  find  1 08  cases  above  the  average  in  Cancellation,  109  in  Number 
Checking,  106  in  Color  Naming,  107  in  Substitution,  and  98  in 
Word  Naming.  Thus  we  really  have  a  more  or  less  uniform  dis- 
tribution with  a  tendency  of  the  number  of  scores  above  the  average 
to  exceed  the  number  below  it.  Disregarding  the  few  extreme  cases, 
we  find  the  majority  of  the  scores  contained  within  the  normal 
limits  of  the  P.E.  distribution,  (-  4  P.E.  to  +  4  P.E.). 

In  the  third  group  we  may  place  the  tests  involving  associative 
relations,  namely,  Directions,  Opposites,  Verb-object,  Mixed  Rela- 
tions, Word  Building,  and  Completion.  Here,  likewise,  as  in  the 
two  preceding  groups,  we  find  fairly  uniform  distributions  with  a 
greater  number  of  cases  above  than  below  the  average,  (except  in 
Word  Building,  where  the  distribution  is  about  equal).  The  major- 
ity of  cases  are  likewise  contained  within  the  normal  range  of  8  P.E., 
but  there  are  a  few  extreme  cases  at  the  poor  end  in  Completion, 
Opposites,  Verb-object,  Mixed  Relations,  and  an  extreme  case  at 
both  the  good  and  bad  end  in  the  Word  Building  test. 

The  fourth  group  contains  those  tests  which  call  into  play  powers 


[U    I 

87       654       32-1       A     +  1       23 
FIG.   17          LOGICAL      RECOGNITION 


98       7654       32-1       A     +1       23 

F  I  G.    I  8  S  U  B  S  T  I  T  U  T  I  0  N- F  I  B  S  T    H  A  L  F 


7       6       5       4       3       2    -  I        A     +1        2        3       4 
f  I  6.   I  9  S  U  B  S  I  I  T  U  T  I  0  H-  S  E  C  0  N  0    HALF 


8       7654        32-1       A     -H        234 
F  1C.    20  SUBSTITUTION     WHOLE 


Norms  of  Performance  and  Application  43 

of  learning,  viz :  observation  and  retention,  namely:  Word  Memory, 
and  Logical  Memory. 

A  word  of  explanation  is  needed  here  regarding  the  construction 
of  the  chart  for  Logical  Memory  (Recollection).  The  categories  into 
which  the  scores  fall  are  so  few  that  the  finest  grouping  possible  is 
in  i  P.E.  units  instead  of  $4  P.E.  units  as  in  the  other  tests.  As 
we  said  before,  to  secure  uniformity  we  let  the  P.E.  represent  the 
same  interval  along  the  base  line  in  all  tests.  Now,  in  order  to  keep 
the  area  of  a  given  number  of  cases  constant  for  all  tests,  it  is  neces- 
sary where  we  have  scores  in  terms  of  I  P.E.  units  to  reduce  the 
vertical  scale  proportionately.  Therefore,  we  regard  the  measures 
as  distributed  evenly  over  the  P.E.  intervals  and  reduce  the  vertical 
scale  one-half.  In  this  test  and  in  Word  Recollection  we  find  a 
greater  number  of  cases  below  the  average  than  above.  The  curve 
is  skewed  toward  the  poor  end  in  Word  Recollection,  and  toward 
the  good  end  in  Word  Recognition  and  Logical  Recognition. 

In  our  fifth  group  we  have  tests  which  depend  on  the  subject's 
knowledge  rather  than  her  innate  ability,  namely,  Information  and 
Vocabulary.  Here  we  find  fairly  uniform  distributions  with  no 
extreme  cases.  This  suggests  the  tendency  of  education  to  make  a 
homogeneous  group  of  individuals  approach  a  general  level  of  per- 
formance in  a  test  of  mere  learning. 

We  have,  finally,  a  miscellaneous  group  which  comprises  the 
Digit  Span  and  Knox  Cube  tests — tests  which  showed  both  a  low 
intercorrelation  and  low  correlations  with  the  other  tests  of  the 
series.  In  the  Knox  Cube  test  the  small  number  of  categories  makes 
it  necessary  to  use  I  P.E.  units  and  in  the  Digit  Span  test  it  is 
necessary  to  use  2  P.E.  units. 

To  sum  up  then,  these  surfaces  of  distribution  are  fairly  symmet- 
rical, if  we  disregard  the  few  extreme  cases.  In  addition,  the  fact 
that  the  averages  and  surfaces  of  distribution  for  the  first  group  of 
one  hundred  freshmen  (Group  I)  are  approximately  the  same  as  for 
the  second  group  of  one  hundred  (Group  II),  corroborates  this  con- 
clusion and  supports  the  view  that  the  norms  here  presented  are 
reliable. 

ACADEMIC  GRADES 

Besides  their  score  in  the  psychological  tests  we  have  additional 
information  about  the  first  group  of  one  hundred  freshmen  (Group  I) 
in  the  form  of  university  grades  and  records  taken  in  the  gym- 
nasium. The  college  subjects  may  be  grouped  into  five  classes: 


ll1 


L 


L, 


654        32-1        A     1-1        234        5 


F  I  G.    2  I  COMPLETION 


FIG.  22  INFORMATION 


4       3        2-1        1*1        2       3       4 

f  I  6.    23  VOCABULARY 


Norms  of  Performance  and  Application  45 

I.  Language  (including  English,  Latin,  Greek,  German,  French, 
Italian,  and  Spanish);  2.  Mathematics;  3.  Science  (physics,  chemis- 
try, botany  or  geology);  4.  Philosophy  (including  psychology); 
and  5.  History.  Due  to  the  freedom  allowed  the  students  in  making 
out  their  programs,  the  same  subjects  are  not  taken  by  all,  and  the 
number  of  cases  in  each  class  therefore  varies.  The  letter  system  of 
marking  is  employed  at  Barnard,  the  letters  A  (excellent),  B  (good), 
C  (fair),  D  (Poor),  and  F  (failure),  being  used.  For  the  statistical 
treatment  of  the  data  the  letter  grades  were  transformed  into 
numbers  according  to  the  scale:  A  =  90,  B  =  80,  C  =  70,  D  =  60, 
and  F  =  50.  Norms  for  these  freshmen  in  their  college  work  are 
shown  in  Table  XXI. 

TABLE  XXI 

Academic  Number  of  Range     (Actual) 

Record  Cases      Average      P.  E.       Lowest     Highest 

1.  Language 97  75.31  4.69  50  90 

2.  Mathematics      ....  88  76.99  6.99  50  90 

3.  Science 41  72.26  7.74  50  90 

4.  Philosophy 27  78.15  3.15  60  90 

5.  History 26  72.88  2.88  60  90 

The  averages  tend  to  be  approximately  equal  for  all  subjects 
with  a  nearly  equal  range  of  distribution. 

PHYSICAL  MEASUREMENTS 

Table  XXII  gives  averages,  P.E.'s,  and  range  from  lowest  to  best 
score  of  the  physical  measurements  taken  in  the  gymnasium. 

TABLE  XXII 

Number  Range  (Actual) 

Test  of  Cases       Average  P.  E.         Poorest      Best 

Height 97  159.92  cm.  4.08  137  172.9 

Weight 97  120.59  Ibs.  12.59  9°  182 

Lung  Capacity 94  171.05  cu.  cm.     13.50  118  230 

Strength  of  Grip,  r.h 97  30.02  kg.  4.02  13         43 

Strength  of  Grip,  1.  h 97  27.27kg.  4.27  16         38 

Upper  Back 97  20.60  kg.  3.4  12         42 

Chest 97  19. 60  kg.  2.6  u         36 

One  of  the  main  purposes  of  this  investigation,  as  we  remarked 
in  a  preceding  section,  was  to  give  the  individual  student  a  knowl- 
edee  of  her  strengths  and  weaknesses.  Accordingly,  at  the  com- 


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Norms  of  Performance  and  Application  47 

pletion  of  the  entire  series  of  examinations  each  year,  an  individual 
report  was  sent  to  each  student  who  took  the  tests.  This  consisted 
of  two  blanks  giving  a  description  and  interpretation  of  the  various 
tests,  with  whatever  significance. each  test  was  known  to  possess 
from  a  vocational  standpoint.  In  addition  to  these  explanatory 
blanks,  there  was  a  third  blank  which  indicated  the  standing  of  the 
individual  student  in  each  of  the  tests,  together  with  the  average 
standing,  (with  the  P.E.),  in  each  test  for  the  entire  group  of  one 
hundred  freshmen,  so  that  the  individual  could  compare  her  own 
record  with  that  of  the  average  in  every  case. 

The  ideal  plan  would  have  been  for  the  experimenter,  after 
sending  each  student  her  report,  to  have  had  a  personal  interview 
with  her.  In  this  she  could  have  cleared  up  any  difficulties  the 
student  might  have  had  in  interpreting  her  results  and  under- 
standing their  significance.  She  could  also  have  rendered  distinct 
aid  by  suggesting  means  whereby  the  student  could  make  the  best 
use  of  her  abilities,  or  strengthen  her  weak  points.  Where  the  girl 
was  doing  academic  work  of  a  grade  below  the  level  her  test  record 
showed  her  capable  of,  the  experimenter  could  have  sought  to 
determine  the  cause  of  the  girl's  academic  failure — whether  due  to 
too  many  distractions,  outside  work,  or  what  not — and  given  advice 
accordingly.  Lack  of  time  made  it  impossible  to  do  this,  however. 
We  therefore  have  no  record  of  these  girls  in  their  last  three  years  of 
college  to  show  whether  they  benefited  from  their  test  results.  It 
is  worth  while  at  this  point,  nevertheless,  to  indicate  how  one  may 
proceed  to  make  practical  use  of  these  tests. 

Charts  I  to  6,  inclusive,  represent  the  psychographic  records 
of  six  students  from  Group  I.  They  are  constructed  as  follows: 
Reading  along  the  heavy  horizontal  base  line,  we  have  the  names 
of  the  nineteen  psychological  tests,  (Substitution  First  Half  and 
Substitution  Second  Half  are  omitted  since  ability  in  this  test  is 
adequately  measured  by  Substitution  Whole),  the  academic 
subjects  varying  from  two  to  four,  according  to  the  programs  of 
study,  and  seven  physical  measurements.  Opposite  the  name  of 
each  test,  subject,  and  physical  measurement  is  the  individual's 
score,  and  below  this,  the  amount  of  her  plus  or  minus  deviation 
from  the  average  scores  expressed  in  P.E.  units.  To  make  the 
individual's  relative  standing  more  concrete,  her  score  in  P.E. 
units  is  also  expressed  in  terms  of  what  her  position  would  be  in  a 
group  of  one  hundred  freshmen,  selected  at  random. 

The  vertical  line  (reading  up  from  the  base  line)  is  divided  into 


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Norms  of  Performance  and  Application  51 

equal  divisions,  indicating  position  in  a  group  of  one  hundred  fresh- 
men selected  at.random,  using  the  norms  of  Table  XX  as  the  basis. 
No.  i  is  considered  the  poorest  individual  in  each  case,  No.  100  the 
best.  The  heavy  horizontal  black  line  in  the  center  represents  the 
average  individual  or  the  5oth  individual  in  the  group.  To  illus- 
trate the  use  of  these  charts  let  us  consider  Chart  I,  A.M.'s  record. 
In  coordination  this  individual  scores  96.  Referring  to  Table  XX, 
we  see  that  the  average  freshman  score  for  this  test  is  83.42  with  a 
P.E.  of  7.5.  A.M.'s  deviation  from  the  average  score  is,  therefore, 
+  12.58  (96-83.42)  -f-  7.5  (the  P.E.)  or  +  1.67  P.E.  units  above 
the  average.  We  know  from  the  normal  curve  of  distribution  that 
between  the  average  and  +  I  P.E.  are  found  25%  of  the  cases,  or 
25  cases  in  a  group  of  one  hundred  individuals.  Between  I  P.E. 
and  +  2  P.E.  there  are  approximately  17%  more  cases,  or  17  in  a 
group  of  one  hundred  individuals,  so  that  if  a  girl  made  a  score 
of  +  2  P.E.  she  would  rank  50  (average)  +  25  +  17,  or  92  in  the 
group.  A.M.,  however,  does  not  quite  reach  this  score.  Her  score 
reaches  only. 67  of  the  interval  between  -f  I  P.E.  and  +  2  P.E.,  or, 
.67  of  the  17  cases  contained  within  these  limits.  Now  .67  X  17  = 
11.39,  *•  e-j  A.M.'s  score  is  that  of  the  nth  individual  in  this  group. 
This  is  only  her  approximate  position,  of  course,  since  the  scores  are 
not  distributed  evenly  over  the  interval.  To  secure  her  exact 
position  we  would  transform  her  P.E.  score  into  rank  according  to 
proper  table.  • 5  She  therefore  stands  50  +  25  +  1 1 ,  or  86  in  a  group 
of  one  hundred  freshmen  in  coordination.  In  Tapping  her  score  is 
368  taps.  The  average  freshman  score  in  this  test  is  372.4  taps  with 
a  P.E.  of  27.6.  A.M.'s  deviation  from  the  average,  accordingly,  is 
—  4.4  (372.4  —  368);  her  deviation  in  terms  of  P.E.  is  —  4.4  -5- 
27.6  (the  P.E.),  or  she  is  —  .15  P.E.  units  below  the  average.  Her 
score  therefore  reaches  .15  of  the  25  cases  in  the  interval  between 
the  average  and  —  i  P.E.  Now,  .15  X  25  =  3.75.  Her  score  there- 
fore gives  her  a  rank  3.75  or  approximately  4  places  below  the  aver- 
age or  5Oth  individual,  i.  e.,  she  stands  46  in  a  group  of  one  hundred 
freshmen.  A  similar  method  was  employed  in  finding  out  the 
psychographic  records  of  the  other  five  students.  Considering  the 
net  scores  in  the  psychological  tests,  A.M.  ranked  97  in  Group  I, 
only  three  individuals  surpassing  her.  When  we  group  the  tests 
under  the  five  divisions  suggested  above,  we  see  that  although  she 
would  stand  well  above  the  average  in  a  random  group  of  one  hun- 
dred freshmen,  she  makes  her  highest  rank  (88  average  rank  for 

«  Thorndike,  E.  L.  Mental  and  Social  Measurements. 


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Norms  of  Performance  and  Application  53 

this  group)  in  the  group  of  tests  which  involve  the  association 
processes,  i.  e.,  in  those  tests  involving  more  complex  and  higher 
abilities.  Moreover,  she  made  the  highest  standing  in  academic 
marks  of  any  freshman  in  Group  I,  being  the  only  one  to  secure 
grade  A  in  all  the  subjects  she  pursued  during  the  year.  It  is  of 
interest  to  note  also  that  the  subject's  score  in  physical  measure- 
ments is  above  the  average.  The  tests  therefore  give  an  adequate 
measure  of  this  student's  ability. 

Chart  2.  L.H.C.  This  freshman  presents  the  other  extreme  of 
ability.  With  the  lowest  academic  standing  of  Group  I,  (having 
no  mark  higher  than  D  grade),  she  also  ranks  only  26  in  net  test 
score.  She  is  especially  deficient  in  the  association  tests.  In  a 
random  group  of  one  hundred  freshmen  she  would  rank  only  I  in 
Opposites  and  Mixed  Relations,  showing  poor  powers  of  associating 
ideas  and  perceiving  relationships  among  logical  material,  and  8  in 
Completion,  which  measures  readiness  in  perceiving  and  compre- 
hending situations.  She  is  also  poor  in  the  memory  tests.  In  the 
second  group  of  tests  which  involves  ability  to  perceive  what  is 
wanted  and  to  carry  out  simple  instructions,  she  ranks  above  the 
average,  suggesting  that  she  would  do  well  at  simple  types  of 
clerical  or  stenographic  work,  though  she  lacks  ability  to  perform 
work  requiring  a  higher  level  of  intelligence.  In  Information  and 
Vocabulary  her  low  rank  of  4.5  is  what  we  would  expect.  Having 
no  aptitude  for  study,  it  is  only  natural  that  she  should  be  unin- 
terested in  it.  Her  physical  report  was  also  below  average.  All 
indications  confirmed  her  psychological  report  that  she  was  unfitted 
to  pursue  college  work.  Her  failure  to  meet  the  academic  standard 
set  for  freshmen  necessitated  her  withdrawal  from  college  at  the 
end  of  the  year — a  course  justified  by  her  psychological  record. 

Chart  3.  G.S.  Although  in  academic  work  this  individual  ranked 
only  21  in  the  group  of  one  hundred,  her  net  score  in  the  psychologi- 
cal tests  gave  her  a  rank  of  74.  Her  record  in  Group  3,  i.  e.,  in  the 
tests  requiring  the  highest  mental  abilities,  indicated  that  she  was 
doing  work  of  a  grade  far  below  her  ability.  Her  net  score  in  the 
tests  of  Group  4  suggested,  and  her  record  in  the  Information  and 
Vocabulary  tests,  which  depend  chiefly  on  knowledge  acquired, 
corroborated  the  hypothesis  that  she  was  neglecting  her  college 
work.  In  her  case  interest  in  athletics  furnished  the  explanation 
for  her  college  record.  Not  only  was  her  physical  record  the  highest 
in  the  class,  but  G.S.  was  a  prominent  figure  in  all  college  athletic 
events,  especially  in  the  swimming  meets  and  in  basket-ball  games. 


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Chart  4.  I.E.  This  case  parallels  L.C.'s.  I.E.'s  net  academic 
rank  was  only  3  and  her  rank  in  the  tests  was  also  below  freshman 
standard.  Like  L.C.,  also,  I.E.'s  withdrawal  from  college  at  the 
end  of  her  first  year  was  fully  justified. 

Chart  5.  L.J.H.  Here  we  have  a  case  of  a  girl  with  a  physical 
record  above  the  average,  and  a  rank  of  95  in  academic  standing, 
but  whose  net  score  in  the  psychological  tests  is  only  17.  Having 
no  other  information  about  this  girl  besides  the  test  data  and  her 
school  marks,  we  cannot  definitely  explain  this  case.  In  only  six 
of  the  tests  does  she  rank  above  average,  but  two  of  these — Mixed 
Relations  and  Completion — involve  the  most  complex  mental 
functions,  powers  of  understanding,  and  reasoning.  It  may  be  that, 
lacking  powers  of  immediate  recall,  this  girl  was  willing  to  devote 
long  hours  to  grasping  the  subject  matter  of  her  studies  so  that  by 
extra  effort  she  was  able  to  make  high  grades.  Her  score  in  Infor- 
mation and  Vocabulary  also  suggests  her  attention  to  her  studies. 

Chart  6.  M.M.  This  case  presents  the  other  extreme.  Here 
we  have  a  freshman  who  is  in  fine  physical  condition  and  has  a  net 
score  of  77  in  the  psychological  tests,  but  whose  net  academic 
standing  is  only  26.  Inasmuch  as  she  stands  well  above  the  average 
in  all  the  tests  involving  the  higher  mental  processes,  her  academic 
failure  is  probably  due  to  lack  of  interest  in  her  studies,  or  to  too 
many  outside  activities. 


SECTION  VI 

INTER-TEST  CORRELATIONS  AND  THEIR 
SIGNIFICANCE 

The  psychographic  charts  showed  that  a  freshman  rarely  did 
equally  well  in  all  the  psychological  tests.  Whereas  she  tended  to 
make  approximately  the  same  standing  in  all  her  academic  subjects, 
she  showed  no  such  uniformity  in  the  psychological  tests.  There 
were,  of  course,  a  few  extreme  cases  where  a  good  student  scored 
above  average  in  the  majority  of  the  tests,  (for  example,  A.M.),  or 
a  poor  student  scored  below  average,  (for  example,  L.H.C.).  This 
raises  the  interesting  question:  Just  what  is  the  nature  of  the 
relationship  existing  between  these  tests?  Are  some  more  closely 
related  than  others?  Is  there  any  evidence  to  support  our  division 
of  the  tests  into  the  groups  suggested  in  the  preceding  section? 
For  determining  the  relationship  between  the  tests  the  particular 
method  of  correlation  used  in  this  investigation  was  one  suggested 
by  Professor  Woodworth  for  combining  the  results  of  several  tests.46 
By  the  use  of  his  method  it  is  possible  to  assign  each  individual  her 
position  in  the  distribution  of  the  group;  she  stands,  in  other  words, 
"above  or  below  the  group  average  and  so  and  so  much  above  or 
below  as  compared  with  the  average  variation  of  the  group."  The 
method  of  procedure  is  as  follows:  The  average  of  any  test  is  regard- 
ed as  zero,  and  the  individual's  standing  is  expressed  as  a  deviation 
above  or  below  the  average.  Then  the  measure  of  variability  (in 
this  case  the  S.D.)  is  taken  as  the  unit  of  deviation  from  this  zero, 
and  all  deviations  are  expressed  as  fractions  or  multiples  of  the  unit. 
Each  individual  deviation,  then  divided  by  the  S.D.  of  the  series, 
gives  a  resulting  quotient  called  the  "reduced  measure."  Having 
obtained  the  reduced  measures,  by  appropriate  substitution  in  the 
Pearson  formula  for  correlation,  we  may  easily  obtain  the  correla- 
tion of  two  given  tests  A.  and  B.,  for,  given  the  reduced  measures 
of  two  arrays,  the  coefficient  of  correlation  between  them  is  the 
average  of  the  products  of  the  various  reduced  measures.  The 
advantage  of  using  this  method  is  that  the  net  position  of  an  in- 
dividual in  a  group  of  tests,  for  example,  in  the  twenty-three  tests 

"Woodworth,  R.  S.  Combining  the  Results  of  Several  Tests;  A  Study  in  Statistical  Method. 
From  Psychological  Review,  March,  1912. 


Inter-Test  Correlations  and  their  Significance  57 

here  used,  may  be  easily  obtained  by  dividing  the  sum  of  her  reduced 
measures  in  those  tests  by  the  number  of  tests,  (twenty- three  in  this 
instance). 

Table  XXIII  gives  the  inter-test  correlations  computed  according 
to  this  method.  The  test  records  used  in  obtaining  these  correla- 
tions are  those  of  the  one  hundred  freshmen  of  Group  I.  Inspection 
of  this  table  reveals  many  interesting  features.  The  correlations 
range  from  -f  .77  (between  Cancellation  and  Digit  Span)  to  .00 
(between  Tapping  and  Word  Recollection,  and  between  Mixed 
Relations  and  Word  Recollection).  The  highest  correlations  are 
+  .77  (between  Cancellation  and  Digit  Span) ;  +  .58  (Word  Recol- 
lection and  Word  Recognition);  +  .57  (Opposites  and  Mixed 
Relations);  -f-  .56  (Logical  Recollection  and  Logical  Recognition); 
+  .51  (Cancellation  and  Checking);  +  48  (Coordination  and 
Tapping) ;  +  .48  (Mixed  Relations  and  Completion) ;  +  .44  (Oppo- 
sites and  Verb-object);  and  +  .40  (Cancellation  and  Word  Nam- 
ing). That  the  Cancellation  test  furnishes  the  highest  single  corre- 
lation is  interesting  because  it  contradicts  the  old  compensation 
theory  and  McCall's  finding  of  a  negative  correlation  (—  .28) 
between  this  and  the  Trabue  Completion  test.  All  our  correlations 
with  Cancellation  are  positive,  ranging  from  +  .03  to  -f  .77. 
Especially  noteworthy  are  the  correlations  of  +  .40  with  Word 
Naming,  -f  .30  with  Word  Building,  and  -f  .31  with  Substitution — 
all  tests  calling  into  play  the  higher  thought  processes.  The  fact 
that  the  correlations  are  all  positive  is  suggestive  of  a  definite  rela- 
tionship between  cancellation  and  these  various  tests. 

Checking  and  Word  Naming  show  the  highest  average  correlation 
(+  .25)  with  the  other  tests  (omitting  Information,  Vocabulary, 
Word  Recollection,  and  Word  Recognition).  Then,  in  order, 
Opposites,  Verb-object,  and  Cancellation;  Color  Naming,  Direc- 
tions, Mixed  Relations,  Word  Building,  and  Completion;  then, 
Logical  Recollection  and  Substitution  Whole;  Knox;  Tapping,  and 
Digit  Span;  Coordination;  Logical  Recognition.  The  Information 
and  Vocabulary  tests  were  omitted  because  they  showed  no  correla- 
tion with  the  other  tests.  The  Vocabulary  test  has  an  average 
correlation  with  the  other  tests  of  .00,  indicating  chance  relation- 
ship. The  correlations  of  Information  with  the  other  tests  were  not 
worked  out  because  inspection  of  the  scores  showed  that  approxi- 
mately the  same  result  would  be  obtained  as  for  the  Vocabulary 
test. 

On  the  whole,  the  inter-test  correlations,  although  mostly  posi- 


58  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

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Inter-Test  Correlations  and  their  Significance  59 

tive,  are  low.  This  would  indicate  that  we  are  testing  here  different 
mental  abilities.  The  fact  that  we  can  group  certain  tests  together 
on  the  basis  of  relationship  shown  by  the  correlation  coefficients 
further  supports  this  view.  It  is  possible  to  find  several  groups  of 
tests  which  correlate  closely  among  themselves,  but  loosely  with 
the  other  tests.  The  following  table  gives  the  various  groupings 
with  their  correlations: 

TABLE  XXIV 

GROUPING  OF  TESTS  ON  THE  BASIS  OF  THEIR  CORRELATION  COEFFICIENTS 
Group     I.    Coordination  and  Tapping,  Correlation  +.48  with  each  other. 

Group    II.    Cancellation,  Checking,  Color  Naming,  Word  Naming,  Substitution. 

Average  Correlation  of  tests  within  group  +-32 

"  u          Cancellation     with  all  others  +.35 

Checking  «     "       «  +.36 

u  u          Color  Naming       "     "       "  +.27 

Word  Naming      «     «       "  +.34 

Substitution          "     "        «  +.30 

Group  III.    Directions,  Opposites,  Verb-object,  Mixed  Relations,  Word  Building, 

and  Completion. 

Average  Correlation  of  tests  within  group  -H.32 

"          Directions  with  all  others  +.25 

Opposites  u     "       "  +.40 

Verb-object  "     "       "  +.31 

Mixed  Relations       "     "       "  +.40 

Word  Building          "     u       "  +.25 

*          Completion  «     "       "  +.30 

Group  IV.   Word  Recollection,  Word  Recognition,  Logical  Recollection,  Logical 

Recognition. 

Average  Correlation  of  tests  within  group  +.38 

«                 «          Word  Recollection     with  all  others  +.39 

Word  Recognition          «  «       «  +.37 

"                "         Logical  Recollection       "  u       "  +.40 

tt                "          Logical  Recognition       "  u       u  +.35 

Group    V.    Information  and  Vocabulary. 

Miscellaneous:   Digit  Span,  Knox  Cube. 

Thus  Tapping  and  Coordination  correlate  +  48  with  each  other, 
but  both  tests  show  a  much  lower  correlation  with  the  other  tests. 
(The  correlations  outside  of  the  group  range  from  +  -33  to  +  .01). 
This  agrees  with  Thorndike's  theory  that  tests  of  the  motor  sensory 
level  correlate  rather  closely  with  each  other,  but  only  loosely  with 
tests  of  other  levels.  In  Group  II,  Checking  has  an  average  corre- 
lation of  +  .36  with  the  others  of  the  group,  and  also  a  much  lower 


60  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

correlation  with  tests  outside  Group  II,  (ranging  from  +  .30  to 
-  .04).  Similarly,  in  Group  III,  Opposites  and  Mixed  Relations 
both  have  an  average  correlation  of  +  40  with  the  other  tests  in 
this  group,  but  a  lower  correlation  with  any  test  outside  the  group, 
again  conforming  to  Thorndike's  contention  that  tests  on  the 
associative  level  correlate  closely  with  each  other,  but  rather  loosely 
with  tests  on  other  levels.  (The  average  correlation  of  Opposites 
with  the  tests  outside  Group  III  is  +  .15;  the  average  correlation  of 
Mixed  Relations  with  tests  outside  Group  III  is  +  .10).  In  Group 
IV,  also,  Logical  Recollection  has  an  average  correlation  of  +  .40 
with  the  other  tests  in  the  group,  but  a  lower  correlation  with  any 
test  outside  this  group.  (The  correlations  outside  the  group  run 
from  +  .30  to  -1-  .01).  Information  and  Vocabulary  differ  from  the 
other  tests  of  the  series  in  that  they  are  indicative  of  one's  learning 
rather  than  one's  innate  ability.  There  is  only  a  chance  correlation 
between  them  and  the  other  tests.  A  more  detailed  discussion  of 
this  relationship  we  will  postpone  till  the  following  section.  As  for 
Knox  Cube  and  Digit  Span,  perhaps  the  best  plan  is  to  consign 
them  to  the  miscellaneous  class.  Knox  Cube  shows  on  the  whole 
the  closest  correlations  with  the  tests  in  Group  II,  but  the  average 
group  correlation  is  not  high  enough  to  warrant  us  definitely  placing 
it  in  this  group  rather  than  in  Group  IV.  In  like  manner,  aside  from 
its  surprisingly  high  correlation  with  Cancellation  (+  .77),  Digit 
Span  shows  no  close  relationship  with  any  other  test.  If  we  omit 
these  four  tests,  (namely,  Information,  Vocabulary,  Knox  Cube, 
and  Digit  Span),  we  do  get  very  definite  groupings  of  the  other 
tests,  as  shown  in  Table  XXII  above,  indicating  that  we  are  measur- 
ing different  abilities.  The  rather  high  intercorrelations  between 
the  tests  of  each  group,  together  with  their  low  correlations  with 
tests  outside  their  own  groups  would  support  this  view.  There  is 
no  evidence  from  these  results  to  support  Spearman's  theory  that 
correlations  are  produced  between  all  sorts  of  performance,  the 
amount  of  the  correlation  being  simply  proportional  to  the  extent 
that  the  performances  concerned  involve  the  use  of  a  general  com- 
mon factor  or  "general  ability."  Our  data  give  evidence  neither  of 
a  common  factor  nor  of  a  hierarchial  arrangement  of  the  correla- 
tions. Attempts  to  arrange  the  correlations  to  form  a  hierarchy 
met  with  even  greater  failure  than  Simpson  reports. 

The  simplest  and  clearest  way  to  explain  the  existing  relation- 
ships between  our  tests  seems,  therefore,  to  arrange  them  in  the 
groups  indicated  in  Table  XXIV — a  grouping  supported  by  the 


Inter-Test  Correlations  and  their  Significance  61 

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62  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

actual  correlation  coefficients.  The  tests  within  each  group  seem 
to  be  closely  related  to  each  other  because  they  possess  elements  in 
common — elements  serving  to  bind  them  closely  to  each  other,  but 
loosely  to  tests  without  their  own  groups.  Thus,  Group  I  involves 
motor  capacity  and  skill;  Group  II  powers  of  perception  and  com- 
prehension; Group  III  associational  relations;  Group  IV  pure 
memory.  Though  there  is  some  slight  overlapping  in  the  qualities 
called  into  play  in  the  various  groups,  nevertheless  it  is  not  sufficient 
to  spoil  our  classification. 

Table  XXV  gives  the  inter-test  correlations  corrected  for  attenua- 
tion. The  correlations  are  all  higher  but  show  in  general  the  same 
relationship.  They  range  from  +  i.oo  (Cancellation  and  Digit 
Span;  Word  Recollection  and  Word  Recognition;  Word  Recollec- 
tion and  Logical  Recollection)  to  +  .00  (Tapping  and  Word  Recol- 
lection; Mixed  Relations  and  Word  Recollection).  When  the  corre- 
lations are  corrected  for  attenuation,  Logical  Recollection  shows 
the  highest  average  correlation  (  +  .39)  with  the  other  tests  (Omit- 
ting Information  and  Vocabulary).  Then,  in  order,  Word  Naming; 
Substitution,  Word  Recollection  and  Cancellation;  Opposites, 
Verb  Object  and  Word  Building;  Checking,  Directions  and  Mixed 
Relations;  Completion  and  Color  Naming;  Word  Recognition  and 
Logical  Recognition;  Coordination,  Digit  Span,  Knox  and  Tapping. 

The  corrected  coefficients  of  correlations  also  support  the  group- 
ings of  tests  given  in  Table  XXIV.  It  is  possible  to  arrange  the 
attenuated  correlations  in  the  same  groups  as  those  given  by  the 
raw  correlations.  The  corrected  coefficients  of  correlation  are  higher 
than  the  raw  correlations  but  the  relationship  between  the  tests  is 
similar. 

To  determine  the  reliability  of  the  test  scores,  an  investigation 
was  conducted  three  years  after  the  testing  of  the  first  group  of  one 
hundred  freshmen  (Group  I).  Two  trials  of  the  tests  were  given 
to  a  group  of  45  freshmen  during  the  period  extending  from  March 
14  to  May  15,  1919,  inclusive.  The  two  trials  occurred  in  every 
case  on  the  same  day  and  required  approximately  45  minutes  of  the 
student's  time.  Table  XXVI  gives  a  list  of  the  tests  employed  in 
two  trials. 

The  method  of  procedure  in  conducting  these  tests  with  the  45 
freshmen  was  the  same  as  that  employed  with  the  200  freshmen 
in  Groups  I  and  II.  Moreover,  all  the  tests  were  conducted  individ- 
ually just  as  was  done  in  testing  the  freshmen  in  Groups  I  and  II, 
and  the  room  employed  for  the  testing  was  the  same  as  in  the  former 


Inter-Test  Correlations  and  their  Significance  63 

TABLE  XXVI 

1.  Coordination  Trials  I  and  2  identical,  same  as  with  Groups  I  and  II. 

2.  Tapping  Trials  I  and  2  identical,  same  as  with  Groups  I  and  II. 

3.  Cancellation  First  half  of  Woodworth- Wells'  blank  used  in  Trial  I, 

and  second  half  in  Trial  2. 

4.  Checking  First  half  of  Woodworth- Well's  blank  used  in  Trial  I, 

and  second  half  in  Trial  2. 

5.  Color  Naming  Trials  I  and  2  identical. 

6.  Directions  Woodworth- Wells'  blank  used  in  Trial  I ;  Wells'  alterna- 

tive form  used  in  Trial  2. 

7.  Opposites  f  The   first   half  of  each   of  these  Wood  worth- Wells' 

8.  Verb-object  {  blanks  was  used  in  Trial  I,  and  the  second  half  in 

9.  Mixed  Relations        [Trial  2. 

10.  Word  Building  Letters  a  e  i  I  p  r  used  in  Trial  I.    (Same  as  in  groups 

I  and  II).  Letters  a  e  o  b  m  t  used  in  Trial  2. 

11.  Word  Naming  Trials  I  and  2  identical. 

12.  Knox  Cube  Trials  I  and  2  identical. 

13.  Digit  Span  Trial  I  as  in  Groups  I  and  II;  equivalent  form  used 

in  Trial  2. 

14.  Word  Recollection     / 

15.  Word  Recognition     I  Trial  I  the  same  as  in  Groups  I  and  II;  equivalent 

16.  Logical  Recollection  1  Mulhall  form  used  in  Trial  2. 

17.  Logical  Recognition  * 

1 8.  Substitution  Given  only  once.    (The  closeness  with  which  the  cor- 

relations of  the  first  half  of  the  test  with  the  other  tests 
agreed  with  the  correlations  of  the  second  half  of  the 
test  with  the  other  tests,  measures  the  reliability  of 
this  test.)  The  correlation  between  the  score  in  the 
first  half  of  the  blank  and  the  score  in  the  second  half 
of  the  blank  was  taken  as  the  measure  of  reliability. 

19.  Completion  Given  only  once.  The  correlation  between  the  score  in 

the  odd  numbered  sentences  and  the  score  in  the  even 
numbered  sentences  was  taken  as  the  measure  of 
reliability. 

investigations.  Just  as  we  found  the  average  and  P.E.'s  for  the 
various  tests  to  be  approximately  the  same  for  both  groups  I  and  II, 
so  the  norms  for  this  group  of  45  freshmen  are  approximately  the 
same  as  those  obtained  for  Groups  I  and  II.  Thus,  since  one  group 
of  Barnard  freshmen  appears  very  similar  to  any  other  group  of 
Barnard  freshmen  selected  at  random,  we  may  fairly  assume  that 
the  coefficients  of  reliability  secured  with  any  one  group  will  also  be 
indicative  of  the  relationship  that  would  exist  between  two  trials 
with  any  other  group  selected  at  random.  If,  then,  we  find  the 
reliability  of  the  tests  high  for  this  group  of  45,  it  is  fair  to  judge 
that  it  would  have  been  equally  high  with  the  group  of  100  fresh- 


64  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

men,   (Group  I),  whose  test  scores  were  used  in  computing  the 
correlations  given  in  Table  XXIII. 

TABLE  XXVII 

TEST  CORRELATIONS  BETWEEN  TRIAL  i  AND 
TRIAL  2 — GROUP  OF  45  FRESHMEN 

1.  Coordination +.66 

2.  Tapping +.77 

3.  Cancellation   . +.60 

4.  Checking +.88 

5.  Color  Naming +.88 

6.  Directions +.76 

7.  Opposites +.79 

8.  Verb-object +.70 

9.  Mixed  Relations +.60 

10.  Word  Building +.70 

11.  Word  Naming +.71 

12.  Knox  Cube +.69 

13.  Digit  Span +.83 

14.  Word  Memory — Recollection +.18 

15.  Word  Memory — Recognition +.33 

1 6.  Logical  Memory — Recollection +.48 

17.  Logical  Memory — Recognition +-73 

1 8.  Substitution +.70 

19.  Completion +-77 

Table  XXVII  shows  the  correlation  between  the  first  and  second 
trial  for  each  of  the  19  psychological  tests.  With  three  exceptions — 
Word  Recollection  (+-  .18),  Word  Recognition  (+-  .33),  and  Logical 
Recollection  (+-  .48) — the  correlations  are  high  enough  to  indicate 
a  high  degree  of  reliability.  These  reliability  correlations  range 
from  -+  .88  in  the  case  of  checking  and  Color  Naming  to  +  .60  in 
the  case  of  Cancellation  and  Mixed  Relations.  If  we  disregard 
Word  Recollection,  Word  Recognition,  and  Logical  Recollection 
on  the  ground  that  their  low  reliability  coefficients  suggest  that 
their  correlations  with  the  other  tests  do  not  give  us  an  exact 
measure  of  the  existing  relationship,  we  have  remaining  a  series  of 
1 6  reliable  tests.  The  inter- test  correlations  based  upon  the  scores 
in  these  16  tests  are  accurate  indicators  of  the  true  relationship 
existing  between  these  tests.  Our  conclusions  drawn  from  these 
inter-test  correlations  are,  moreover,  strengthened  by  our  knowledge 
that  they  are  based  upon  reliable  test  scores  which  give  an  accurate 
measure  of  the  freshman's  ability  in  these  tests. 


SECTION  VII 

CORRELATIONS  BETWEEN  THE  TESTS  AND 
ACADEMIC  MARKS 

TESTS  VERSUS  MARKS  AS  MEASURES  OF  MENTAL 

ABILITY 

The  charts  discussed  in  Section  V  showed  that  the  freshman 
scores  in  the  psychological  tests  were  distributed  according  to  the 
normal  probability  curve.  Tables  XXVIII  to  XXXII  inclusive, 
show  the  distribution  for  the  five  groups  of  academic  marks,  based 
on  grades  of  freshmen  in  Group  I. 

TABLE  XXVIII  TABLE  XXIX  TABLE  XXX 

LANGUAGE  MATHEMATICS  SCIENCE 

Grade  Frequency  Frequency  Frequency 

F  (50-60)  2  i  4 

D  (60-70)  14  14  6 

C  (70-80)  49  33  1 6 

B  (80-90)  30  30  12 

A  (90-100)  2  10  3 

TABLE  XXXI— PHILOSOPHY  TABLE  XXXII— HISTORY 

Grade  Frequency  Frequency 

F   (50-60)  o                                                  o 

D  (60-70)  I                                                    4 

C   (70-80)  10  1 6 

B   (80-90)  12                                                    4 

A  (90-100)  4                                                    2 

Not  only  is  there  a  coarse  grouping  (only  five  units)  as  compared 
with  the  fine  grouping  of  scores  in  the  various  psychological  tests 
(15  to  20  units),  but  the  distributions  fail  to  follow  the  normal  error 
curve  as  is  the  case  in  the  test  scores.  With  the  academic  marks 
there  is  a  decided  skewing  of  the  distribution  curves  toward  the 
good  or  positive  end.  It  seems  as  though  instructors  made  a  delib- 
erate effort  to  avoid  failing  their  students.  As  for  the  passing  grades, 
inspection  of  the  marks  suggests  that  there  is  insufficient  care  in 
rating  students  according  to  their  relative  abilities  in  various  courses. 

Observation  of  the  uniform  surfaces  of  frequency  obtained  when 
these  one  hundred  freshmen  were  given  the  twenty-three  psycho- 
logical tests,  compared  with  the  decidedly  skewed  distributions  for 
the  same  students  in  academic  marks,  prepares  us  for  correlation 
tables  XXXIII  and  XXXIV. 


66  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

Table  XXXIII  shows  the  correlation  between  the  scores  of  all 
the  psychological  tests  (excluding  Information),  and  the  marks  in 
each  of  the  five  academic  groups  for  the  freshmen  in  Group  I. 
Language  shows  a  fair  positive  correlation  with  Mixed  Relations 
(+  .20),  Word  Building  (+  .31),  Completion  (+  .30),  and  Vocabu- 
lary (+  .41),  i.  e.t  with  the  tests  in  which  the  language  factor  per- 
forms a  significant  role.  Mathematics  shows  a  fair  positive  correla- 
tion with  Cancellation  (+  .28),  Checking  (+  .22),  tests  involving 
simple  mathematical  processes,  and  Knox  Cube  (+  .24).  Science 
shows  positive  correlations  with  Opposites  (+  .33),  Verb-object 
(+  .23),  Mixed  Relations  (+  .30),  tests  involving  the  higher 
thought  processes  needed  in  understanding  the  science  courses 
given  at  Barnard,  Knox  Cube  (+  .34),  a  test  involving  powers  of 
perception  and  observation  which  are  necessary  in  scientific  labora- 
tory work,  and  Logical  Recollection  (+  .21),  which  is  also  an  im- 
portant factor  in  scientific  work. 

The  correlations  of  Philosophy  with  Cancellation  +  .37,  Word 
Naming  (+  .29),  Knox  Cube  (+  .28)  and  Digit  Span  (+  .22)  are 
unexpected. 

TABLE  XXXIII 
CORRELATIONS  BETWEEN  TESTS  AND  ACADEMIC  RECORDS 

Language  Mathematics  Science  Philosophy  History 

Coordination —.12  +.05  .—  .03  +.03  +.15 

Tapping —.16  +.01  -.10  +.15  +.00 

Cancellation v— -+.14  +.28  +.04  +.37  +.10 

Checking —.01  +.22  +.06  +.10  +.02- 

Color  Naming +.11  +.07  +.12  —.07  —.05 

Directions —+.03  -.10  -.03  -.22  +.13 

Opposites +.17  -.01  +.33  +.01  +.30 

Verb-Object +.04  +.03  +.23  +.17  —.05 

Mixed  Relations +.20  +.01  +.30  +.12  +.19 

Word  Building +.31  +.15  +.00  —.17  +.24 

Word  Naming +.10  +.06  +.02  +.29  +.09 

Knox  Cube +.18  +.24  +.34  +.28  +.08 

Digit  Span +.19  +.19  +.05  +.22  +.33 

Word  Memory — Recollection        .      .     —  .01  —.23  —.07  —.27  —.03 

Word  Memory — Recognition        .      .     +.06  +.02  +.12  +.10  +.13 

Logical  Memory — Recollection     .      .     +.13  +.13  +.21  -.03  +.40 

Logical  Memory — Recognition     .      .     —  .03  +.06  +.03  —.08  +.02 

Substitution  ist  Half    .      .      .      .      .     -.08  +.11  +.09  -.19  +.18 

Substitution  2nd  Half -.05  +.08  +.06  -.14  +.26 

Substitution  Whole —.10  +.11  +.00  —.19  +.14 

Completion +.30  +.02  +.05  +.17  +.14 

Vocabulary +.41  -.05  +.12  +.09  +.23 


The  Tests  and  Academic  Marks  67 

TABLE  XXXIV 
CORRELATION  BETWEEN  TESTS  AND  INTELLIGENCE  QUOTIENT 

Intelligence 
Quotient 

Coordination +.18 

Tapping +.17 

Cancellation •  •  +-22 

Checking +.20 

Color  Naming +.23 

Directions +.20 

Opposites +.24 

Verb-object +.23 

Mixed  Relations +.20 

Word  Building         +.22 

Word  Naming +.26 

Knox  Cube         +.22 

Digit  Span +.16 

Word  Memory — Recollection +.14 

Word  Memory — Recognition ~Ki7 

Logical  Memory — Recollection +.23 

Logical  Memory — Recognition +.18 

Substitution — First  Half +.27 

Substitution — 2nd  Half +.25 

Substitution — Whole +.27 

Completion +.21 

Vocabulary +.03 

History  shows  positive  correlations  with  Opposites  (+  .30), 
Word  Building  (+  .24),  Digit  Span  (•+  .33),  Logical  Recollection 
(H-  .40),  and  Substitution  (+  .26),  i.  e.,  with  the  tests  involving 
ability  to  memorize  logical  material  and  ability  to  perceive  rela- 
tionships between  facts — two  essentials  for  successful  performance 
in  the  required  first-year  history  course  at  Barnard. 

In  general,  then,  the  five  academic  groups  show  positive  corre- 
lation with  tests  which  we  would  expect  to  correlate  with  them. 
Table  XXXIV  gives  the  correlations  between  the  tests  and  the 
composite  score  of  all  the  academic  groups.  The  correlations  are 
all  positive,  ranging  from  +  .14  to  +  .27  (excluding  Vocabulary), 
suggesting  a  positive  relationship.  They  are,  however,  too  low  to  be 
used  for  diagnostic  purposes.  Aside  from  a  few  correlations  in  Table 
XXXIII  previously  mentioned,  the  correlations  between  the 
various  tests  and  each  of  the  five  academic  groups  are  even  less 
susceptible  to  use  for  practical  purposes. 

In  view  of  these  low  correlations  and  the  wide  variation  in  corre- 


68  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

lations  obtained  between  tests  and  marks  by  other  experimenters, 
the  question  arises:  Do  the  academic  marks  or  the  psychological 
tests  give  the  more  reliable  estimates  of  the  student's  mental 
ability?  The  present  writer  believes  that  the  psychological  tests 
give  the  more  adequate  measures. 

What  meager  experimental  data  there  is  relevant  to  this  question 
of  the  reliability  of  school  marks,  corroborates  this  view.  The 
skewed  distributions  in  the  case  of  the  Barnard  academic  grades 
were  indicated  before — a  fact  which  has  been  noted  by  investigators 
in  the  case  of  other  institutions.47 

Professor  Max  Meyer,48  making  a  statistical  study  of  all  the 
marks  of  forty  instructors  given  during  a  period  of  five  years  at  the 
University  of  Missouri,  found  a  striking  lack  of  uniformity  in  the 
standards  of  grading  used.  So  striking  was  the  non-uniformity 
that  the  college  authorities  were  moved  to  establish  a  definite 
system  of  marking  in  1908,  with  the  aim  of  overcoming  the  ten- 
dency of  the  instructors  to  distribute  grades  according  to  personal 
opinion.  Following  Meyer,  a  study  of  the  distribution  of  marks 
at  the  University  of  Wisconsin  was  made  by  Dearborn,49  and  of 
the  marks  at  Harvard  University  and  the  University  of  California 
by  Foster.50  These,  and  studies  made  at  the  University  of  Chicago, 
Amherst  College,  and  Columbia  University,  agreed  in  showing  the 
same  wide  variation  in  the  standards  of  grading  employed  by 
instructors. 

Aikins  51  found  a  slight  difference  in  the  relative  positions  assigned 
to  17  students  in  a  philosophy  class  by  the  students  themselves  on 
the  basis  of  several  ten-minute  tests,  and  the  positions  he  assigned 
them  on  the  basis  of  four  hour  tests.  Smith  gives  several  plates, 
illustrating  clearly  the  great  discrepancies  and  marked  lack  of 
uniformity  in  marking  systems  at  the  University  of  Iowa.52 

Zerbe,  in  a  detailed  study  of  the  distribution  of  grades  assigned 
for  academic  work  and  those  assigned  for  shop  work  at  the  School 
of  Applied  Industries,  Carnegie  Institute  of  Technology,  found 
that  the  grades  as  distributed  for  the  shop  work  were  based  on  a 
much  lower  standard  than  the  grades  assigned  for  the  theoretical 

"  Kelly  in  a  monograph  entitled  "Teachers'  Marks"  has  given  a  history  of  the  standards  of 
marking  in  elementary  schools,  high  schools,  and  colleges. 

«  Meyer,  Max.   The  Grading  of  Students,  Science,  28;  243-252. 

«•  Dearborn,  W.  F.   School  and  University  Grades. 

50  Foster,  William  T.  Scientific  vs.  Personal  Distribution  of  College  Credits;  Popular  Science 
Monthly,  78;  378-408. 

si  Aikins,  H.  A.   The  Reliability  of  "Marks,"  Science,  N.  S.,  1910,  32;  18-19. 

"  Smith,  A.  G.  A  Rational  College  Marking  System,  Journ.  of  Educ.  Psychol.,  1911.  2;  383-393- 


The  Tests  and  Academic  Marks  69 

subjects.63  He  also  observed  a  marked  lack  of  conformity  to  a 
standard  in  the  case  of  grades  given  by  individual  instructors. 
When  Jones  M  gave  an  opposites  test  and  a  memory  test  to  each  of 
two  elementary  psychology  classes,  taught  by  different  instructors, 
he  obtained  these  interesting  results: 

Instructor  "A"  Instructor  "B" 

(28  students)  (33  students) 

Class  standing  and  opposites        ....  .09  .49 

Class  standing  and  memory .44  .07 

These  correlations  were  explained  when  further  investigation 
revealed  that  instructor  A  taught  by  the  outline  method,  emphasiz- 
ing the  memory  factor,  whereas  instructor  B  discouraged  verbatim 
statements  taken  from  the  text  book.  Both  instructors  were  teach- 
ing the  same  subject,  but  assigning  grades  according  to  entirely 
different  standards. 

After  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  question  at  Harvard  and  other 
institutions,  President  Foster  of  Reed  College  concluded  that 
"Not  only  are  there  extreme  variations  among  different  courses, 
but  there  are  variations  in  the  same  course  from  year  to  year  that 
cannot  be  accounted  for,  apparently,  by  any  of  our  scientific  studies 
in  the  distribution  of  abilities  among  human  beings.  From  Maine 
to  California  the  administration  of  college  credits,  although  alike 
in  no  other  particular,  agrees  in  this:  "That  its  basis  is  personal 
rather  than  scientific." 55  Recognition  of  this  personal  equation 
factor  has  led  Smith,  Weiss,56  Zerbe,  Foster,  Starch,  and  other 
investigators  to  emphasize  the  need  of  a  uniform  system  of  grading. 
They  agree,  moreover,  in  maintaining  that  the  distribution  of 
college  grades,  when  properly  assigned,  should  conform  to  the 
normal  probability  curve.  In  1914,  a  committee  on  standardizing 
grades  at  George  Washington  University  made  a  similar  proposal. 
Definite  attempts  to  enforce  such  systems  of  marking  are  now 
being  used  at  the  University  of  Missouri,  Reed  College,  and  other 
institutions. 

Even  in  a  more  restricted  and  more  objective  situation  when 
instructors  are  asked  to  assign  grades  according  to  performance  in 
a  definite  task — as  for  example,  in  a  written  examination  paper, 
there  is  great  variability  due  to  the  widely  different  subjective 

61  Zerbe,  J.  L.  Distribution  of  Grades.  Journ.  of  Educ.  Psychol.,  1917,  9;  575-588. 
"  Jones,  E.  S.  A  Suggestion  for  Teacher  Measurement.    School  and  Society,  1917,  6;  321-322  . 
•»  Zerbe,  J.  L.  Distribution  of  Grades. 

M  Weiss,  A.  P.  School  Grades — To  what  Type  of  Distribution  shall  they  Conform?  Science  , 
1912,  36;  403-407. 


70  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

standards  employed  by  the  teachers  in  judging.57  Jacoby  found  a 
variation  of  1.5  points  out  of  10  in  the  grades  of  six  professors  of 
astronomy  in  marking  eleven  astronomy  papers.58  Starch  and  Elliott 
had  facsimile  reproductions  made  of  two  first-year  English  papers 
and  a  geometry  paper,  printed  on  the  same  kind  of  paper  the 
students  had  written  them  on.59  These  they  then  had  rated  by 
142  high  school  teachers  of  these  two  subjects.  The  English  papers 
were  also  rated  by  a  class  in  the  Teaching  of  English  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Wisconsin  and  by  a  Summer  School  class  of  teachers  in  the 
University  of  Chicago.  They  found  that  the  grades  assigned  to  the 
two  English  papers  by  142  English  teachers  ranged  in  the  case  of 
one  paper  from  64  to  98,  with  a  probable  error  of  4.0,  and  in  the 
case  of  the  other  from  50  to  98,  with  a  probable  error  of  4.8.  The 
grades  of  the  mathematics  paper  assigned  by  118  mathematics 
teachers  ranged  from  28  to  92,  with  a  probable  error  of  7.5  points.60 

In  a  later  investigation  Starch  had  ten  college  freshman  English 
papers  graded  independently  by  ten  instructors  of  the  various 
sections  of  freshman  English.61  He  found  as  wide  a  range  of  marks 
as  he  obtained  with  the  English  and  Mathematics  papers  of  his 
former  investigation.  Moreover,  when  ten  papers  were  regraded  by 
the  same  instructor  after  a  certain  interval  of  time,  Starch  found 
an  average  difference  between  the  first  and  second  grading  of  4.4 
points.  He  also  found  a  mean  variation  of  the  grades  assigned  by 
teachers  in  different  schools  of  5.4  points,  by  teachers  in  the  same 
department  and  institution  of  5.3  points,  and  of  grades  assigned  at 
different  times  by  the  same  teachers  to  their  own  papers  of  2.2 
points.  On  the  basis  of  all  his  data,  he  concluded  that  the  best 
marking  scale  is  100,  95,  90,  85,  80,  etc.,  and  that  the  distribution 
of  grades  should  follow  the  probability  curve. 

All  the  studies  thus  far  made  in  this  field  indicate  this  same 
variation  in  standards  of  grading.  There  are,  moreover,  additional 
factors  which  render  school  marks  absolutely  unreliable  measures 
of  a  student's  mental  ability,  and  cause  low  correlations  between 
psychological  tests  and  marks. 

57  For  illustrations  of  the  variability  of  Civil  Service  examiners  in  rating  the  same  papers,  the 
variation  between  the  marks  of  teachers  in  New  York  State  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Regents  on 
the  other,  see  Kelly's  monograph. 

48  Jacoby,  H.  The  Marking  System  in  the  Astronomical  Course  at  Columbia  College,  1900- 1910, 
Science,  31;  819. 

59  Starch  and  Elliott,  Reliability  of  Grading  High  School  Work  in  English,  School  Review, 
September,  1912. 

60  Starch  and  Elliott,  School  Review,  21,  254-259. 

81  Starch,  D.  The  Reliability  and  Distribution  of  Grades,  Science,  1913,  38;  630-636. 


The  Tests  and  Academic  Marks  71 

James,  from  work  done  at  Whitewater  Normal  School,  gives 
these  three  reasons  for  the  low  correlations  obtained  by  him: 62 

"i.  The  reluctance  of  nearly  all  teachers,  and  their  inability 
because  of  the  limitations  of  our  poor  rating  methods,  to  rate  the 
good  students  as  high  as  they  should  be  rated,  or  the  poor  ones  as 
low  as  they  should  be  rated." 

"2.  The  rather  closer  application  to  their  studies  made  by  the 
less  able,  due  to  greater  anxiety  and  more  time  at  their  disposal." 

"3.  The  easy-going  satisfaction  displayed  by  many  able  minds 
content  with  what  is  for  them  mediocre  accomplishment,  and  the 
greater  drain  on  their  time  imposed  by  fellow-students  for  outside 
activities  of  all  kinds." 

From  data  obtained  from  a  questionnaire  sent  to  127  delinquent 
college  freshmen  and  to  their  high  school  principals,  Miner  con- 
cluded that  such  traits  as  "lack  of  purpose,  laziness,  and  lack  of 
resistance  to  social  and  other  distractions"  often  explain  a  student's 
failure  in  school  work.63  Their  marks  in  such  cases  are  unreliable 
measures  of  their  ability.  Scott  manifested  agreement  with  Miner 
when  he  stated  that:  "Where  students  stood  high  in  the  tests,  but 
low  or  medium  in  estimates,  their  failure  to  succeed  in  class  work 
was  usually  due  to  laziness,  timidity,  or  disgust  for  the  idea  of 
struggling  for  marks."  64 

Abundant  statistical  evidence,  therefore,  supports  our  conten- 
tion that  the  striking  lack  of  uniformity  in  standards  of  grading 
among  instructors,  making  for  skewed  distributions  of  marks,  the 
differences  in  grades  assigned  the  same  paper  by  teachers  at  dif- 
ferent times,  the  personal  equation  in  marking,  the  tendency  of 
many  able  students  to  neglect  studies  for  outside  distractions  and 
of  poorer  students  to  apply  themselves. more  assiduously,  the  role 
played  by  such  factors  as  lack  of  purpose  or  incentive,  interest  in 
outside  or  in  college  activities,  economic  pressure  causing  students 
to  devote  much  time  to  earning  money,  etc.,  make  college  marks 
totally  inadequate  measures  of  students'  ability.  All  these  factors 
are  influential,  moreover,  in  making  Barnard  marks  as  unreliable 
as  marks  given  in  other  colleges.  No  attempt  is  made  by  Barnard 
instructors  to  distribute  their  grades  according  to  the  normal 

M  James,  B.  B.  Mutual  Correlations  of  Intelligence,  Scholarship,  and  Vocabulary.  School  & 
Society,  1919,  9J  427.  In  School  &  Society,  1918,  7;  238-239,  James  gives  similar  factors  as 
influencing  the  correlations  between  marks  and  tests. 

68  Miner,  J.  B.  The  College  Laggard.  Journ.  of  Educ.  Psychol.,  1910,  i;  263-271. 

"Scott,  C.  A.  General  Intelligence  or  "School  Brightness."  Journ.  of  Educ.  Psychol.,  1913, 
41  500-524. 


72  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

probability  curve.  Absolute  freedom  is  permitted  the  teachers. 
As  a  result,  the  personal  bias  of  the  teachers  plays  a  large  part  in 
the  marks  received  by  students.  This,  combined  with  the  con- 
tributory causes  above  mentioned,  renders  Barnard  marks  untrust- 
worthy. 

The  psychological  tests,  on  the  other  hand,  have  much  to  recom- 
mend them  as  giving  reliable  estimates  of  freshmen's  mental 
ability.  All  the  tests  employed  are  standard  tests.  They  were, 
moreover,  administered  by  one  experimenter  according  to  a  care- 
fully standardized  method  of  procedure.  All  conditions  were  kept 
constant — the  place  of  testing,  the  attitude  of  the  experimenter, 
the  method  of  conducting  the  tests,  and  the  method  of  scoring. 
Every  student  undertook  the  examination  with  a  determination  to 
do  her  level  best.  Whereas,  in  school  subjects,  lack  of  interest  or 
incentive  often  caused  a  girl  to  do  a  lower  grade  of  work  than  she 
was  mentally  capable  of  doing,  here  there  was  a  definite  incentive 
impelling  her  to  exert  maximum  effort.  Each  freshman  expected 
to  receive  vocational  guidance  based  on  her  test  scores.  She  accord- 
ingly took  the  psychological  test  at  an  hour  convenient  for  her — 
when  she  was  feeling  in  good  condition.  Genuine  interest  in  the 
tests,  (noted  in  the  case  of  all  students),  coupled  with  a  keen  desire 
to  make  a  favorable  record,  renders  their  test  scores  reliable  esti- 
mates of  their  ability.  The  fact  that  the  scores  conform  to  normal 
distribution  curves  further  indicates  the  reliability  of  these  measures, 

We  do^not  claim,  however,  that  we  can_predict_a_student's 
future_success_in_college  from  her  psychological  test  record.  The 
psychological  examination  gives  an  adequate  measure  of  what 
each  freshman  can  do.  From  it  we  can  make  an  authentic  psycho- 
graph  of  her  mental  abilities  indicating  in  which  processes  she  is 
strong,  and  in  which  she  is  weak.  Whether  she  will  make  high 
academic  grades  or  attain  success  in  later  life  depends  not  only 
upon  her  mental  capacity,  but  upon  such  other  factors  as  interest, 
incentive,  will-power,  economic  stress,  environmental  conditions, 
etc.  The  tests,  not  her  academic  marks,  measure  her  mental  capac- 
ity; to  predict  her  future  performance  in  school  or  her  success  in 
a  particular  vocation,  we  must  also  consider  these  other  factors. 


SECTION  VIII 

CORRELATIONS  BETWEEN  PSYCHOLOGICAL  TESTS 

AND  PHYSICAL  MEASUREMENTS.  THEIR 

SIGNIFICANCE 

There  is  one  further  problem  to  be  considered — the  relation 
existing  between  the  psychological  tests  and  the  physical  measure- 
ments. The  correlations  shown  in  Table  XXXIII,  based  on  the 
records  of  the  one  hundred  freshmen  in  Group  I,  furnish  an  im- 
portant contribution  to  our  existing  meagre  data  on  this  subject. 

Most  investigators  who  have  hitherto  reported  correlations 
between  physical  traits  and  mental  ability  have  used  school  marks 
or  teachers'  estimates  as  indicators  of  mental  ability.  Their  sub- 
jects, moreover,  have  been  school  children.  Porter,  Smedley, 
De  Buck,  MacDonald,  Gilbert,  Baldwin,  Pyle,  King,  Arnold, 
Wilson,  and  Schuyten  are  some  of  the  chief  workers  in  this  field. 
Widely  varying  results  have  been  reported,  some  experimenters 
finding  positive  correlations  between  physical  traits  and  school 
progress,  others  negative,  and  still  others  indifferent  or  zero  corre- 
lations. Discussing  the  significance  of  these  varying  correlations, 
Whipple  says:  "The  trend  of  evidence  is  to  the  effect  that  all  such 
correlations,  where  found,  are  largely  explicable  as  phenomena  of 
growth,  i.  e.,  as  correlations  with  relative  maturity.  This  makes 
intelligible  the  fact  that,  in  general,  the  positiveness  of  all  such 
correlations  lessons  with  age,  and  that  many  of  them,  indeed, 
become  difficult  or  impossible  of  demonstration  in  adults."  65 

Of  the  investigations  in  which  adults  have  been  used  as  subjects, 
the  work  of  Dr.  Karl  Pearson  is  perhaps  the  most  extensive.  He 
made  measurements  of  1,000  Cambridge  University  students, 
obtaining  these  correlations: 

Mental  ability  and  dolichocephaly  .  .  .  .  +.03  =*=.<>3 
Mental  ability  and  short  heads  .  .  .  .  —  .08  =^.03 
Mental  ability  and  broad  heads  .  .  .  .  +.04  ±.03 

His  method  of  rating  his  subjects  for  mental  ability  was  extremely 
rough,  consisting  merely  in  grouping  the  men  into  two  big  classes — 
pass  men  and  honor  men.  Similar  correlations  obtained  by  Pearson 
between  head  measurements  and  mental  ability  as  measured  by 

»  Whipple,  G.  M.  Manual  of  Mental  and  Physical  Tests.  Part  I,  p.  71. 


74  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

teachers  in  the  case  of  1856  school  boys  twelve  years  of  age,  lead 
Galton  to  conclude  "that  there  is  no  marked  correlation  between 
ability  and  shape  or  size  of  the  head."  66 

In  another  investigation  with  Cambridge  students,  Pearson 
found  zero  correlations  between  mental  ability,  determined  roughly 
as  indicated  above,  and  strength  of  pull,  strength  of  squeeze,  long 
sight,  weight,  and  ratio  of  weight  to  stature.67  Continued  testing 
of  Cambridge  students  and  school  children  lead  Pearson  to  conclude 
in  1906  that  "The  results  (of  our  investigations)  confirm  the  previous 
conclusion  that:  While  there  exists  a  slight  but  sensible  relation 
between  size  of  head  and  intelligence,  there  is  no  possibility  of 
using  this  relation  to  make  even  rough  individual  predictions."  68 

These  investigations,  although  interesting,  have  no  direct  bear- 
ing upon  our  problem,  however,  which  is  concerned  with  the  rela- 
tionship existing  between  the  performance  of  college  freshmen  in 
psychological  tests  and  their  physical  measurements  taken  in  the 
gymnasium. 

We  have  good  reason  to  feel  that  these  physical  measurements  are 
fully  as  reliable  and  accurate  estimates  as  are  the  psychological  test 
scores.  The  physical  examinations  were  all  conducted  in  the 
Thompson  Gymnasium  of  Teachers  College.  They  were  given 
individually,  the  head  of  the  Department  of  Physical  Education 
of  Barnard  College  making  all  the  measurements.  These  were  then 
immediately  recorded  on  the  student's  physical  record  card  by  an 
assistant.  Thus  any  inaccuracy  in  taking  the  measurements  would 
be  a  constant  one,  and  would  not  disturb  the  relative  ranking  of  the 
freshmen. 

Experimental  conditions  were  as  uniform  as  in  the  case  of  the 
psychological  tests.  Each  girl  came  to  the  gymnasium  at  an  hour 
convenient  for  her  and  went  through  all  parts  of  the  examination 
according  to  a  standardized  method  of  procedure.  No  clothing  was 
worn  during  the  examination,  save  for  two  light  cloth  flaps  which 
were  fastened  loosely  about  the  shoulders  by  means  of  a  draw 
string  and  two  similar  flaps  fastened  about  the  waist  which  could 
easily  be  raised  in  taking  measurements.  These  were  provided  by 
the  physical  director  for  the  occasion. 

•  Pearson,  K.  On  the  Correlation  of  Intellectual  Ability  with  the  Size  and  Shape  of  the  Head . 
Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  1902,  LXIX,  333-342. 

«  Lee,  A.,  Lewenz,  M.  A.,  and  Pearson,  K,  On  the  Correlation  of  the  Mental  and  the  Physical 
Characters  in  Man.  II  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.,  1002,  LXXI,  106-114. 

68  Pearson,  K.  On  the  Relationship  of  Intelligence  to  Size  and  Shape  of  Head,  and  to  other 
Physical  and  Mental  Characters.  Biometrika.  1006,  5;  105-146- 


Psychological  Tests  and  Physical  Measurements  75 

The  physical  records  taken  were:  height  measured  in  centi- 
meters with  a  stadiometer;  weight,  measured  in  pounds  with  the 
Fairbanks  scale;  lung  capacity,  measured  in  cubic  centimeters;  and 
four  other  strength  tests — grip  right  and  left  hand,  upper  back  and 
chest,  measured  in  kilograms  with  a  dynamometer.  The  norms  for 
these  measurements  obtained  for  these  one  hundred  freshmen  were 
given  in  Section  V. 

The  curves  of  distribution  for  these  seven  measurements  (which 
lack  of  space  prevents  us  from  printing),  conform  approximately 
to  the  normal  probability  curve.  The  subjects,  moreover,  with  a 
very  few  exceptions,  were  all  eighteen  years  of  age  or  over,  so  that 
the  factor  of  relative  maturity  does  not  affect  the  correlations.  The 
freshmen  are  a  rather  homogeneous  group  with  respect  to  age. 
These  facts,  coupled  with  the  accuracy  of  both  the  physical  and 
psychological  measures  give  us  good  reason  to  believe  in  the  reliabil- 
ity of  the  correlations  in  Table  XXXIII. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  six  of  the  seven  physical  measure- 
ments— all  except  lung  capacity — manifest  zero  or  chance  correla- 
tions with  all  the  psychological  tests.  The  average  correlation  of 
each  of  these  six  measures  with  all  the  psychological  tests  is  as 
follows:  Height  with  all  the  tests,  -f-  .05;  weight  +  .06;  strength 
of  grip,  right  hand,  +  .04;  strength  of  grip,  left  hand,  +  .02; 
strength  of  upper  back,  +  .02,  and  strength  of  chest,  +  .05.  As 
these  correlations  are  all  less  than  the  probable  error  ( ±  .068) 
they  indicate  clearly  that  there  is  no  connection  between  these 
physical  measurements  and  a  freshman's  mental  ability  as  indicated 
by  her  psychological  test  records.  In  the  case  of  lung  capacity,  all 
the  correlations  (except  with  vocabulary)  are  positive.  They  are 
markedly  low,  though,  the  average  correlation  between  lung  capac- 
ity and  all  the  psychological  tests  being  only  +  .10.  This  is  little 
more  than  the  probable  error,  indicating  the  existence  of  only  a 
chance  relationship. 

The  uniformity  of  the  single  correlations  in  exhibiting  this 
tendency  toward  chance  relationship  is  significant.  In  only  eight 
cases  out  of  the  total  number  of  154  correlations,  or,  in  fact,  we 
might  say  in  only  six  cases,  since  the  correlations  between  Substitu- 
tion First-half  and  lung  capacity  (+  .20)  and  Substitution  Second- 
half  and  lung  capacity,  (+  .26)  duplicate  information  yielded  by 
the  correlation  between  Substitution  Whole  and  lung  capacity 
(+  .24) — are  there  correlations  of  +  .20  or  over.  The  highest 
correlation  is  only  +  .26  (Substitution  Second-half  and  lung  capac- 


76  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

ity),  which  is  too  low  to  admit  of  diagnostic  purposes.  With  these 
few  exceptions,  all  the  correlations  between  physical  measurements 
and  the  tests — 146  correlations  in  all — show  approximately  zero 
relationship.  The  large  number  of  these  correlations  justifies  us 

TABLE  XXXV 
CORRELATIONS  BETWEEN  TESTS  AND  PHYSICAL  MEASUREMENTS 


1.  Coordination        . 

2.  Tapping    .      . 

3.  Cancellation 

4.  Checking  .      .      .      .     '.      . 

5.  Color  Naming      .... 

6.  Directions ' 

7.  Opposites 

8.  Verb-object 

9.  Mixed  Relations  .... 

10.  Word  Building     .... 

11.  Word  Naming      .... 

12.  Knox  Cube 

13.  Digit  Span 

14.  Word  Memory — Recollection 

15.  Word  Memory — Recognition 

1 6.  Logical      Memory  —  Recol- 

lection     +.18    +.22    +.22    -.05    +.01    +.10    +.09 

17.  Logical    Memory — Recogni- 

tion   +.09    +.ii    +.14    -.05    +.04    -.01    +.05 

18.  Substitution— First  Half       .     +.19    +.05    +.20    +.02    +.07    —.00    +.02 

19.  Substitution— 2nd  Half  .      .     +.17    -.02    +.26    +.05    +.07    +.09    +.02 

20.  Substitution — Whole      .      .     +.19    +.00    +.24    +.04    +.07    +.06    +.01 

21.  Completion -.12    —.05    +.04    -.02    —.05    +.02    —.03 

22.  Vocabulary -.02    +.07    -.17    +.07    —.05    —.04    —.15 

Average +.05    +.06    +.10    +.04    +.01    +.01    +.04 

in  concluding  that  the  relationship  between  the  physical  measures 
and  the  tests  is  one  of  chance  only. 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  the  only  other  experimenter  who 
has  reported  the  results  of  a  similar  study  with  college  freshmen 
supports  this  view.  Although  Wissler  in  his  study  of  the  results  of 
the  old  Columbia  freshman  tests  reports  only  two  correlations 


Psychological  Tests  and  Physical  Measurements  77 

between  the  physical  tests  and  the  psychological  tests — namely,  a 
correlation  between  length  of  head  and  logical  memory  of  -f  .21, 
and  between  breadth  of  head  and  logical  memory  of  •-  .05 — the 
observation  of  the  records  of  freshmen  in  other  physical  tests  com- 
pared with  their  records  in  the  psychological  tests  lead  Wissler  to 
conclude :  "That  the  physical  tests  show  a  general  tendency  to  corre- 
late -among  themselves,  but  only  to  a  very  slight  degree  with  the 
mental  tests."  69 

Although  the  physical  measurements  exhibit  only  a  chance 
connection  with  a  freshman's  psychological  test  score,  they  should 
be  taken  into  consideration  by  an  instructor  or  advisor  whose  duty 
it  is  to  give  guidance  to  a  student  in  planning  her  college  course. 
In  Section  V  we  pointed  out  the  case  of  a  freshman  (Chart  3,  G.S.), 
whose  net  score  in  the  psychological  examination  was  well  above 
the  average  freshman  record,  but  whose  standing  in  academic  work 
was  in  the  lowest  quintile  of  the  class.  The  fact  that  she  made  the 
best  record  in  the  class  in  the  physical  measurements,  together  with 
the  information  we  later  acquired  concerning  her  athletic  activities, 
explained  her  academic  failure.  The  more  varied  measures  of  a 
student  we  have,  the  better  qualified  we  will  be  to  make  an  adequate 
psychograph  of  a  student's  relative  abilities  and  disabilities,  in 
various  lines. 

•'Wissler,  Clark.   Psychological  Review  Monograph  Supplement,  June,  1901. 


GENERAL  SUMMARY  OF  THE  RESULTS  WITH 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  THE  PRACTICAL  USE 

OF  THE  TESTS 

A  series  of  nineteen  psychological  tests  was  given  to  two  groups 
of  one  hundred  Barnard  freshmen  each  with  the  aim  first  of  estab- 
lishing norms  and  standards  of  performance  and  giving  students  a 
clear  conception  of  their  abilities  and  aptitudes  along  various  lines 
and  second  of  determining  the  reliability  of  the  tests  and  their 
correlations  with  freshmen  university  grades  and  physical  measure- 
ments. 

All  the  tests  were  given  individually  according  to  a  standardized 
method  of  procedure  and  under  standard  conditions. 

The  averages  and  surfaces  of  distribution  for  the  first  group  of 
one  hundred  freshmen  (Group  I)  are  approximately  the  same  as 
for  the  second  group  of  one  hundred  (Group  II)  and  for  a  third 
group  of  forty-five  freshmen — showing  that  Barnard  freshmen  are 
a  homogeneous  group,  differing  little  from  year  to  year. 

The  inter-test  correlations  range  from  +  .77  (between  Cancella- 
tion and  Digit  Span)  to  .00  (between  Tapping  and  Word  Recollec- 
tion and  between  Mixed  Relations  and  Word  Recollection).  The 
positive  correlations  between  Cancellation  and  the  other  tests 
(+  .03  to  +  .77)  contradict  the  old  compensation  theory.  The  fact 
that  the  correlations  are  all  positive  is  suggestive  of  a  definite 
relationship  between  Cancellation  and  these  various  tests. 

Checking  and  Word  Naming  show  the  highest  average  correla- 
tion (+  .25)  with  the  other  tests  (omitting  Information,  Vocabu- 
lary, Word  Recollection  and  Word  Recognition);  then,  in  order, 
Opposites;  Verb-object  and  Cancellation;  Color  Naming;  Direc- 
tions, Mixed  Relations,  Word  Building,  and  Completion;  Logical 
Recollection  and  Substitution  Whole;  Knox;  Tapping  and  Digit 
Span;  Coordination;  Logical  Recognition. 

On  the  whole,  the  inter-test  correlations,  although  mostly  posi- 
tive, are  low,  indicating  that  we  are  testing  different  mental  abilities. 

On  the  basis  of  the  relationship  shown  by  the  correlation  coeffi- 
cients we  may  divide  the  tests  into  three  groups:  (i)  motor  tests 
(Coordination  and  Tapping);  (2)  tests  involving  powers  of  per- 
ception and  comprehension  (Cancellation;  Checking,  Color  Nam- 


General  Summary  of  Results  79 

ing,  Word  Naming  and  Substitution) ;  (3)  tests  involving  associa- 
tive relations  (Directions,  Opposites,  Verb-object,  Mixed  Rela- 
tions, Word  Building  and  Completion);  (4)  tests  which  call  into 
play  powers  of  learning,  viz.,  observation  and  retention — (Word 
Memory  and  Logical  Memory);  (5)  tests  depending  on  the  sub- 
ject's knowledge  more  than  on  her  innate  ability  (Information  and 
Vocabulary) ;  (6)  miscellaneous  group  (Digit  Span  and  Knox  Cube). 
There  is  only  a  chance  correlation  between  Information  and  Vocabu- 
lary and  the  other  tests.  With  the  exception  of  this  group  and 
Digit  Span  and  Knox  Cube,  the  remaining  groups  of  tests  correlate 
closely  among  themselves  but  loosely  with  the  other  tests. 

There  is  no  evidence  from  these  results  of  a  general  common 
factor  nor  of  a  hierarchial  arrangement  of  the  correlations. 

The  tests  within  each  group  seem  to  be  closely  related  to  each 
other  because  they  possess  elements  in  common — elements  serving 
to  bind  them  closely  to  each  other  but  loosely  to  tests  without 
their  own  groups. 

The  coefficients  of  correlation  corrected  for  attenuation  are  con- 
siderably higher  than  the  raw  correlations  but  show  in  general 
the  same  relationships. 

The  coefficients  of  reliability  are  low  for  Word  Recollection 
(-f  .18),  Word  Recognition  (+  .33)  and  Logical  Recollection 
(+  .48).  For  the  other  tests  they  range  from  +  .88  (Checking 
and  Color  Naming)  to  +  .60  (Cancellation  and  Mixed  Relations). 
We  have,  thus,  a  series  of  sixteen  reliable  tests.  Inter-test  correla- 
tions based  upon  the  scores  in  these  sixteen  tests  are  accurate 
indicators  of  the  true  relationship  existing  between  these  tests. 

The  psychological  tests  show  low  correlations  both  with  each  of 
five  academic  groups  (i)  Language,  (2)  Mathematics,  (3)  Science, 
(4)  Philosophy  and  (5)  History,  and  with  the  composite  score  of 
all  the  academic  marks  (+  .14  to  +  .27). 

Lack  of  uniformity  in  standards  of  grading  among  instructors, 
causing  skewed  distribution  curves  of  marks,  the  personal  equation 
in  marking,  the  role  played  by  such  factors  as  lack  of  incentive, 
interest  in  outside  or  college  activities,  economic  pressure,  etc., 
make  college  marks  inadequate  measures  of  the  students'  ability. 

There  is  evidence  that  the  psychological  tests  give  a  true  estimate 
of  each  freshman's  mental  capacity.  To  predict  her  performance  in 
school  or  in  a  future  vocation  both  her  capacity  and  such  other 
factors  as  interest,  incentive,  will-power,  environmental  conditions, 
etc.,  must  be  considered. 


8o  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

The  correlations  between  the  physical  measurements  and  the 
psychological  tests  show  approximately  zero  or  chance  relationship. 

Psychographic  charts  may  be  constructed,  showing  each  student 
her  relative  rank  in  the  tests,  academic  grades  and  physical  measure- 
ments. Such  psychographs  may  be  put  to  practical  use  as  for 
example,  in  cases  where  a  student  is  doing  academic  work  of  a  grade 
below  the  level  her  test  record  showed  her  capable  of. 

The  results  of  this  investigation  make  it  possible  to  offer  a  few 
tentative  suggestions  to  college  administrators  who  desire  to  insti- 
tute a  system  of  student  guidance.  The  first  step  in  such  a  plan 
might  well  be  to  put  each  member  of  the  freshman  class  through 
a  thorough  physical  examination  to  determine  her  physical  fitness 
for  undertaking  college  work.  This  examination  should  be  made 
by  the  director  of  the  Physical  Education  department  or  a  com- 
petent assistant  in  the  department.  Students  with  correctible 
physical  defects  should  be  given  proper  treatment — eyeglasses, 
special  physical  exercises  or  what  not,  according  to  their  needs. 
Those  suffering  from  a  slightly  run  down  condition  might  be  advised 
to  take  a  light  program  until  they  regained  their  normal  condition; 
those  too  far  below  par  might  be  advised  not  to  enter  college. 

The  second  step  might  be  to  obtain  an  estimate  of  her  mental 
capacity  on  the  basis  of  her  score  in  a  psychological  examination. 
A  psychologist  (who  might  also  act  as  vocational  advisor)  with  an 
assistant  might  well  be  in  charge  of  this  work.  If  possible,  each 
freshman  should  be  tested  individually,  the  same  experimenter 
conducting  all  the  tests  according  to  a  standard  method  of  pro- 
cedure. As  for  the  particular  tests  to  be  used,  they  should  be 
varied  in  character,  adapted  to  measure  various  mental  abilities. 
A  series  that  may  be  divided  into  several  groups,  each  group  testing 
a  rather  definite  mental  ability  and  such  that  tests  within  each 
group  correlate  highly  among  themselves  but  loosely  with  all  tests 
outside  their  own  group,  as  in  the  present  investigation — perhaps 
represents  the  ideal  type  of  tests.  The  particular  series  of  tests 
employed  in  this  study  is  not,  however,  recommended  as  the  best 
series  of  tests  that  might  be  used.  It  is  very  probable  that  a  series 
could  be  found  that  will  test  more  significant  mental  abilities  and 
such  that  the  tests  within  each  group  will  correlate  more  closely 
with  each  other  and  more  loosely  with  other  tests.  Only  by  empiri- 
cally trying  out  different  series  can  the  ideal  series  be  found. 

Where  lack  of  time  or  the  size  of  the  freshman  class  makes  it 
impossible  to  test  each  freshman  individually,  a  comprehensive 


General  Summary  of  Results  8 1 

group  test  that  has  been  found  successful — as  for  example,  the 
Army  Alpha  or  the  Thorndike  Group  test — may  be  employed. 
In  view  of  the  successful  results  secured  with  these  group  tests 
and  the  speed  with  which  they  may  be  administered,  it  may  well 
be  that  such  a  comprehensive  group  test  as  the  Thorndike  test 
would  be  the  best  to  employ.  In  the  case  of  students  who  barely 
passed  or  who  failed  in  this  group  test,  such  a  series  of  tests  as  that 
used  in  the  present  investigation  might  be  used  to  supplement  the 
results  of  the  group  test.  It  would  seem  that  a  group  test  which 
might  be  supplemented,  where  necessary,  by  an  individual  examina- 
tion would  be  the  ideal  arrangement. 

As  we  stated  before,  a  psychologist  and  an  assistant  should  pref- 
erably be  in  charge  of  the  psychological  testing.  Perhaps  a  group 
of  fifteen  to  twenty  persons  with  some  experience  in  scoring  psy- 
chological tests  might  be  employed  to  score  the  tests  immediately 
after  the  psychologist  has  given  them.  In  this  way  the  examinations 
might  be  easily  scored  within  three  or  four  days  and  the  reports 
made  out  for  each  student  very  soon  after.  The  results  of  the 
psychological  examination  and  the  physical  examination  together 
with  the  student's  academic  entrance  record,  might  then  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  psychologist  or  vocational  advisor.  On  the  basis  of 
these  records,  psychographic  charts  might  be  made  out  for  each 
student  indicating  her  strengths  and  weaknesses.  The  vocational 
advisor  might  then  have  an  immediate  interview  with  such  stu- 
dents who  showed  any  marked  disabilities.  In  this  personal  con- 
ference the  advisor  might  try  to  obtain  from  the  student  pertinent 
information  concerning  her  interests,  economic  status,  environ- 
mental conditions,  etc.  All  these  supplementary  items  of  informa- 
tion would  then  enable  him  to  form  a  comprehensive  idea  of  the 
student's  mental  and  moral  calibre.  With  this  as  a  basis  vocational 
advice  could  be  given  the  student  regarding  her  choice  of  subjects, 
study  habits,  participation  in  extra  curricula  activities,  etc.  Per- 
haps such  students  might  be  asked  to  report  at  stated  intervals  for 
further  conference.  Much  the  same  procedure  might  be  followed 
with  the  other  students  except  that  here  fewer  conferences  would 
be  necessary. 

The  advisor  should  be  free  to  devote  all  his  time  to  supervising 
the  academic  career  of  the  students  and  to  rendering  needed  advice. 
Obviously  such  a  man  should  be  a  psychologist  with  both  ability 
to  interpret  the  various  measures  secured  of  each  student's  ability 
and  tact  in  persuading  students  to  follow  his  suggestions.  From  the 


82  Psychological  Examinations  of  College  Students 

attempts  that  have  thus  far  been  made  in  certain  institutions  to 
guide  students'  academic  careers,  it  seems  probable  that  with  an 
able  vocational  advisor  aided  by  a  competent  assistant  such  a  sys- 
tem would  be  a  distinct  help  in  stimulating  students  to  exert  maxi- 
mum effort  in  doing  their  college  work. 


VITA 

The  writer  was  born  in  Norwich,  Chenango  County,  New  York, 
on  October  I,  1895.  She  graduated  from  Girls'  High  School,  Brook- 
lyn. In  1916  she  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  from 
Barnard  College,  and  in  1917  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from 
Columbia  University.  Her  work  in  psychology  has  been  done 
under  Professors  R.  S.  Woodworth,  H.  L.  Hollingworth,  L.  S. 
Hollingworth,  E.  L.  Thorndike  and  A.  T.  Poffenberger.  She  was 
assistant  in  psychology  in  Columbia  University  1918-20;  assistant 
in  Summer  School,  1918,  1919,  and  1920;  assistant  and  instructor, 
Extension  Teaching,  1918-19;  and  instructor,  Extension  Teaching, 
1920. 


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